\n<\/p>\n
Charles Shyer, who co-wrote and directed a long string of hit comedies, including \u201cPrivate Benjamin,\u201d \u201cBaby Boom\u201d and \u201cFather of the Bride\u201d \u2014 many of which featured strong female leads and were made in collaboration with his former wife, Nancy Meyers<\/a> \u2014 died on Dec. 27 in Los Angeles. He was 83.<\/p>\n His daughters Annie Meyers-Shyer and Hallie Meyers-Shyer<\/a>, who is also a director, said he died in a hospital after an unspecified short illness.<\/p>\n Mr. Shyer was practically raised by the film industry \u2014 his father, Melville Shyer, was a founder of the Directors Guild of America \u2014 and his projects drew on his unabashed love for classic movies.<\/p>\n His portfolio of inspirations was vast, encompassing the renowned, like \u201cHis Girl Friday\u201d (1940) and \u201cNorth by Northwest\u201d (1959), and the obscure, like the absurdist 1973 British comedy \u201cO Lucky Man!,\u201d which he ranked among his favorite films.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n He and Ms. Meyers were both romantic and professional partners. They were already dating when they collaborated with Harvey Miller on the script for \u201cPrivate Benjamin,\u201d a 1980 film about a socialite who enlists in the U.S. Army.<\/p>\n The film, directed by Howard Zieff and starring Goldie Hawn, was a major hit \u2014 it made $69.8 million on a $9.2 million budget \u2014 and the writing trio earned an Academy Award nomination for best original screenplay.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n More success followed. \u201cIrreconcilable Differences\u201d (1984), the first film Mr. Shyer directed, was followed by \u201cBaby Boom\u201d (1987), \u201cFather of the Bride\u201d (1991) and its 1995 sequel, and \u201cThe Parent Trap\u201d (1998), all written by Mr. Shyer and Ms. Meyer. \u201cFather of the Bride\u201d and \u201cThe Parent Trap\u201d were remakes of movies that are themselves considered classics.<\/p>\n Many of their films featured strong female characters pushing against social norms. In \u201cBaby Boom,\u201d for example, Diane Keaton plays a hard-charging consultant who finds herself raising a baby on her own.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n \u201cA few years ago, it would have had to be a man,\u201d Mr. Shyer told The Toronto Globe and Mail in 1986, \u201cbecause it\u2019s hard to think of a woman who doesn\u2019t know how to deal with a baby. But nowadays it\u2019s possible.\u201d<\/p>\n He directed most of his films with Ms. Meyers, though they switched places for \u201cThe Parent Trap,\u201d her directorial debut.<\/p>\n Hollywood wags took to calling them the \u201cSchmyers,\u201d not only because of the prolific nature of their collaboration but also because of its tightness \u2014 they worked in a one-room building behind their home in the Sherman Oaks neighborhood of Los Angeles, facing each other across a writing desk.<\/p>\n \u201cI would lay down the scene, and then I would \u2014 it sounds like I\u2019m describing a movie \u2014 pull the paper out and heave it across the desk, and he\u2019d pencil it up,\u201d Ms. Meyers said in an interview. \u201cSometimes he would lay down the scenes and then I would revise them. There was a romance to it.\u201d<\/p>\n The couple married in 1995 and separated three years later, but they remained friends<\/a>.<\/p>\n Throughout their films \u2014 and in the ones Mr. Shyer made after they split, like \u201cAlfie\u201d (2004), which was also a remake \u2014 Mr. Shyer tackled serious domestic issues but leavened them with a big dollop of humor.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n He often recalled a bit of advice given to him by one of his directing heroes, Billy Wilder: \u201cWe all want the same thing, us writers and directors. We want to make them laugh and make them cry.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n That, he told Script magazine in 2022<\/a>, is what it is all about.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat he\u2019s saying is you want to do a movie that is enjoyable, but that has substance,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd I think that\u2019s for me the big drive.\u201d<\/p>\n Charles Richard Shyer was born on Oct. 11, 1941, in Los Angeles. His father was an assistant director and occasional director, and his mother, Lois (Jones) Delaney, managed the home.<\/p>\n He briefly attended College of the Desert, in Palm Desert, Calif. But he left when he was accepted into an apprentice program run by the Directors Guild of America.<\/p>\n Mr. Shyer worked low-level jobs on a number of movies before shifting to writing. He became an assistant to Garry Marshall<\/a> and Jerry Belson<\/a> at around the time they adapted Neil Simon\u2019s 1965 play \u201cThe Odd Couple\u201d for television in 1970.<\/p>\n \u201cI got to sit in on story meetings. And then when they were over, I would say stuff to Garry,\u201d he told Script. \u201cAnd he said, \u2018That\u2019s good. Speak up more.\u2019 And he would encourage me, and then he said, \u2018You could be a writer.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Mr. Shyer received writing credits on three films in the 1970s \u2014 \u201cSmokey and the Bandit\u201d in 1977 and \u201cHouse Calls\u201d and \u201cGoin\u2019 South\u201d in 1978 \u2014 before teaming up with Ms. Meyers and Mr. Miller on \u201cPrivate Benjamin.\u201d<\/p>\n Mr. Shyer\u2019s first two marriages ended in divorce. His third marriage, to Ms. Meyers, ended in 2000. He married Deborah Lynn in 2004; they divorced in 2009.<\/p>\n Along with his two daughters, both from his marriage to Ms. Meyers, he is survived by two children from his marriage to Ms. Lynn, Jacob and Sophia Shyer, and three grandchildren.<\/p>\n Mr. Shyer\u2019s last two movies \u2014 \u201cThe Noel Diary<\/a>\u201d (2022), which he co-wrote and directed, and \u201cBest. Christmas. Ever!<\/a>\u201d (2023), which he co-wrote and produced \u2014 were both made for Netflix.<\/p>\n He spoke warmly of his work for that streaming service, but he also bemoaned what he saw as the fading of the theatergoing experience.<\/p>\n \u201cI think movie theaters are going to go the way of bookstores and record stores,\u201d he told The Hollywood Reporter in 2022<\/a>. \u201cThey\u2019re just not going to be around anymore, and that\u2019s very sad to me. I\u2019m thankful that I got to work during a time when they were around.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n