Larry Rosen Dies: ‘The Partridge Family’ Producer Was 84

Greg Evans
·2 min read

Larry Rosen, a producer of The Partridge Family, the Sally Field sitcom The Girl With Something Extra and The Mike Douglas Show, died Sept. 14 in Los Angeles of complications from pancreatic cancer. He was 84.

His death was announced by his family.

A native of Newark, New Jersey, Larry Rosen started his television career in Youngstown, Ohio, later moving to Philadelphia where he worked as a producer on the Emmy-nominated The Mike Douglas Show.

After moving to California, Rosen worked for Screen Gems, Columbia Pictures TV, and dick clark productions. Rosen produced ABC’s hit sitcom The Partridge Family from 1971-73 before leaving to produce another Bernard Slade creation The Girl With Something Extra, starring Sally Field as a woman with ESP and John Davidson as her hapless husband. Despite the popularity of its stars, the sitcom lasted for only one season – 1973-74 – at the tail-end of the Bewitched-I Dream of Jeannie supernatural craze.

Also in 1973, Rosen, with Larry Tucker, created the short-lived TV sitcom adaptation of Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice, starring Robert Urich, Anne Archer, David Spielberg and Anita Gillette in the title roles. He exec produced the 1981-82 comedy Mr. Merlin starring Barnard Hughes as the Camelot wizard in contemporary San Francisco; 1983’s Jennifer Slept Here, starring Ann Jillian as the ghost of a movie star; and Stir Crazy, the 1986 TV adaptation of the 1980 Richard Pryor-Gene Wilder prison escape comedy. Larry Riley and Joseph Guzaldo took the roles on television.

At the age of 56, Rosen switched careers, enrolling in the USC Physician Assistant Program. After graduation, he worked for 27 years in family practice at Nobel Community Medical in North Hollywood, CA. In 2008, he was recognized as a Distinguished Fellow of the American Academy of Physician Assistants.

Rosen is survived by wife Joyce Davis; daughter Betty Rosen-Ziff; son Steven Rosen and daughter-in-law Erin Rosen; stepchildren Scott Davis and Deborah Davis-Bonk and her husband Bill Bonk; and three grandchildren. The family has established USC Larry Rosen Memorial Scholarship Fund supporting students in need enrolled in the Physician Assistant Program in the Department of Family Medicine at Keck School of Medicine of USC.

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