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Barry Blaustein<\/a>, the former \u201cSaturday Night Live<\/a>\u201d writer behind the beloved Eddie Murphy \u201cComing to America<\/a>\u201d films and the acclaimed documentary \u201cBeyond the Mat,<\/a>\u201d died Tuesday. He was 71.<\/p>\n Blaustein\u2019s death was confirmed by Chapman University\u2019s Dodge College of Film and Media Arts, where he had been a screenwriting professor since 2012<\/a>. Blaustein battled Parkinson\u2019s disease for the last decade and, according to the Hollywood Reporter, was told last month that he had Stage 4 pancreatic cancer.<\/p>\n \u201cBarry understood what made comedy function better than anyone I know,\u201d Stephen Galloway, the dean of Dodge College, told The Times in an emailed statement. \u201cHe knew that it includes darkness as well as light. And yet it was the light that filled his last years. Even as he declined with Parkinson\u2019s, he showed a positivity that always stunned me. He\u2019ll be remembered as a wonderful writer, but an even more wonderful human being.\u201d<\/p>\n Blaustein, alongside his longtime writing partner, David Sheffield, penned classic comedies including the 1988 film \u201cComing to America\u201d and its 2021 sequel, \u201cComing 2 America,<\/a>\u201d 1992\u2019s \u201cBoomerang,\u201d as well as the 1996 film \u201cThe Nutty Professor\u201d and its 2000 sequel, \u201cNutty Professor II: The Klumps.\u201d<\/p>\n Blaustein also directed the 2010 feature film \u201cPeep World,\u201d which he said was shot in 21 days for about $1 million, and 2005\u2019s \u201cThe Ringer,\u201d starring Johnny Knoxville and Katherine Heigl. <\/p>\n Although his claim to fame was contributing to numerous comedy projects across decades, it was the 1999 documentary \u201cBeyond the Mat,\u201d a behind-the-scenes chronicle of three famous pro wrestlers, that was Blaustein\u2019s darling. <\/p>\n According to The Times, Imagine Entertainment partners Ron Howard and Brian Grazer and then-President Michael Rosenberg agreed to produce \u201cBeyond the Mat\u201d because they valued their longtime relationship with Blaustein.<\/p>\n Grazer told The Times<\/a> in 1999 that the comedy writer had \u201caccrued such goodwill with Imagine and was so passionate about the subject matter\u201d that the company decided to back the project \u201cfor the relationship with an artist we value.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThis wasn\u2019t the first time Barry asked me to direct,\u201d said Grazer, referring to the documentary. \u201cAnd I\u2019ve always said no. I knew Barry as a sheer sketch comedy writer, so when I saw this, I was blown away. I had no idea he had this emotional storytelling side to him.\u201d<\/p>\n The Times called \u201cBeyond the Mat\u201d one of the best films of the year, and it was one of 12 finalists for Academy Award consideration.<\/p>\n Born on Sept. 10, 1954, Barry Wayne Blaustein grew up on Long Island, N.Y. He graduated from W.T. Clarke High School and went on to earn a bachelor of arts degree from New York University before landing an internship at NBC News in New York. <\/p>\n Although he didn\u2019t know he wanted to be a writer from the jump, Blaustein told TTFT<\/a> podcast in 2021 that he always knew he wanted to be in show business. In the late \u201970s, he landed a gig working in Hollywood, but it wasn\u2019t a straight shot to the top. \u201cAll the typewriters were stolen; you couldn\u2019t work for a more shady person,\u201d he told the podcast. <\/p>\n Paying his dues ultimately paid off when Blaustein\u2019s boss sent him to lunch with a producer who asked the young hopeful if he could write. He said yes, because he learned to always say yes if you wanted to work in show business. Next thing he knew, he was a writer on \u201cThe Mike Douglas Show<\/a>,\u201d a syndicated daytime program that hosted guests including James Caan, Sonny Bono, Lucille Ball, David Letterman and Bob Hope.<\/p>\n \u201cSo I worked on that show, and every job I had has somehow led to another job,\u201d he told TTFT. <\/p>\n In 1980, Blaustein moved on to \u201cSaturday Night Live,\u201d where he was hired for the sketch show\u2019s sixth season. There he met the man who would become his writing partner, Sheffield, as well as Murphy. Together, they produced Murphy\u2019s most famous bits from the show, including Gumby<\/a>, Buckwheat and Mr. Robinson. <\/p>\n The three had a potent chemistry that would last decades, and Blaustein joked that his more than 40-year partnership with Sheffield and Murphy was the \u201clongest marriage in showbiz history.\u201d<\/p>\n In 1987, the three \u2014 plus Arsenio Hall \u2014 teamed up for \u201cComing to America,\u201d in which Murphy played a wealthy African prince who comes to America to escape an arranged marriage and finds his true love. Murphy pitched the project to the writing duo with about 20 pages of handwritten ideas. <\/p>\n \u201cI didn\u2019t realize, maybe it\u2019s because I\u2019m blind or something, but I didn\u2019t realize how sociologically important the film would be,\u201d Blaustein told the TTFT podcast<\/a>. \u201cThe film was beloved, and it\u2019s in the Smithsonian and it was the biggest thrill when I went to the Museum of African American History, and it\u2019s in there in two different places in the museum. And I was like, \u2018Oh my God, what a compliment.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n After a steady run of penning, producing and directing various projects, Blaustein made a career pivot in 2012. He\u2019d recently divorced after 28 years of marriage, his relationship with Hollywood was running on fumes, and he needed a change of pace. He joined Chapman University\u2019s Dodge College of Film and Media Arts, one of the top film schools in the country, and dedicated himself to teaching budding screenwriters. <\/p>\n \u201cHe was a hell of a writer,\u201d said screenwriter and former student Brianna Brown<\/a> in an emailed statement to The Times. \u201cBut he was the absolute best teacher. What I learned from him has been monumental creatively. What I learned from him outside the classroom has been transformative. These things I cherish so deeply. Needless to say, his presence quickly became a life changing part of who I am. I\u2019m proud to have bits of these things, bits of the writer he was deeply ingrained in me \u2026 his talent, confidence, and humility. <\/p>\n \u201cBeyond his teaching, the person he was has truly shaped me. How I was welcomed into his family. The way he showed his love. The way I always felt it unconditionally \u2026 these special parts of him \u2026 that will live on through me in anything I ever teach and everything I ever write. He taught me how to live a dream worth living.\u201d<\/p>\n Around 2017, Blaustein was diagnosed with Parkinson\u2019s disease. The veteran writer said that, when he received the diagnosis, the first thing that he thought of was an exchange he\u2019d had with Muhammad Ali, who publicly battled the disease<\/a> for decades before his death in 2016<\/a>. <\/p>\n \u201cDon King was on \u2018Saturday Night Live\u2019 and invited me to go to the fights in Las Vegas,\u201d he said<\/a>. \u201cThere was a dinner party the night before, and he said, \u2018Sit at this table.\u2019 I was with Muhammad Ali, who was in the depths of his Parkinson\u2019s, and I\u2019m talking to him and trying to engage in conversation, and I couldn\u2019t understand what he was saying.\u201d<\/p>\n Blaustein admitted that he thought, \u201cHow do I get out of this?\u201d <\/p>\n \u201cAnd when they diagnosed me with Parkinson\u2019s, I thought, \u2018Oh, my God, who\u2019s going to want to talk to me?\u2019 Because I didn\u2019t want to talk to Muhammad Ali, and Muhammad Ali is one of the greatest people that ever lived.\u201d<\/p>\n Blaustein said the condition changed his life and told TFTT<\/a> podcast that he wrote the 2021 sequel \u201cComing 2 America\u201d while grappling with the disease. \u201cI\u2019m very proud that I wrote the movie, having Parkinson\u2019s, of course, I didn\u2019t tell the studio, but now they know.\u201d<\/p>\n