Short answers, pulled from the story.
Bruce Vilanch is an American comedy writer, songwriter, and actor born on the 23rd of November, 1948. He is best known as head writer for the Academy Awards from 2000 to 2014, and for his four-year stint as head writer and celebrity square on Hollywood Squares.
Vilanch wrote for the Academy Awards from 1989 to 2014, a span of 25 years. He served as a co-writer for the first ten years and became head writer in 2000, a role he held until 2014.
Vilanch has won two consecutive Emmy Awards for his writing on the Academy Award telecasts. He has also won four additional Emmys for Outstanding Variety Show.
Vilanch co-wrote "Where Is My Man" with Fred Zarr and Jacques Morali, which Eartha Kitt popularized in 1983. He also co-wrote "Sex Over the Phone" for the Village People, which became a cult favorite, and wrote the farewell lyrics for Bette Midler's Tonight Show tribute to Johnny Carson, a song that later won an Emmy Award.
Vilanch played Edna Turnblad in the musical Hairspray, first joining the first national stage tour in 2003 and then taking the role on Broadway in 2005. He also wrote and performed his own off-Broadway one-man show, Bruce Vilanch: Almost Famous, at the Westbeth Theatre Center in 2000.
Vilanch's 2025 memoir, It Seemed Like a Bad Idea at the Time, covers his involvement in some of the worst moments in entertainment history. He co-wrote the notorious 1978 Star Wars Holiday Special and worked on other productions that became bywords for failure.