Biography
Few people could speak for Elvis Presley, but, as the screenwriter behind the musical military flick "G.I. Blues," Henry Garson did just that. He wrote the King of Rock and Roll as a tank crewman with a golden voice, and the film became the 14th highest-grossing production of 1960 despite a late-November release date. For his efforts with Elvis, Garson received a nomination for Best Written American Musical from his colleagues at the Writers Guild of America. As it turns out, Presley wasn't the only king Garson had written for. In 1959, he penned "Don't Give Up the Ship" for King of Comedy Jerry Lewis, the first of two collaborations with the performer. The second was the oddball "Visit to a Small Planet," in which Lewis played an extraterrestrial studying abroad on Earth. Garson settled into TV writing by the mid '60s, sharing his comedic sensibilities on laughers "Window on Main Street," "McHale's Navy," and "My Three Sons," among others. He got in on the ground level of the smash-hit sitcom "Family Affair" in 1966, where he wrote 27 episodes over five years. Garson also served as producer during the series' first two seasons.
