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James Komack

American actor, television producer, director, and screenwriter (1924-1997)

Correspondence, annotated notebooks and portrait silhouettes prepared for research
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Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionJul 10, 2026
Entity authorityQ924650 ↗
Source-derived summary

James Arenson Komack (August 3, 1924 – December 24, 1997) was an American television producer, director, screenwriter, and actor. He is best known for producing several hit television series, including The Courtship of Eddie's Father, Chico and the Man, and Welcome Back, Kotter.

Over the course of his career, Komack was nominated for two Golden Globe Awards and two Primetime Emmy Awards.

Early life and family

James Komack was born in New York, the son of Max Komack (1894–1956) and Frances Greenstein Komack (1899–1986). He had one sister, Roslyn "Roz" Komack (later Baldassare, 1920–1992).

Career

Komack performed in both the film and the original Broadway cast of the musical Damn Yankees. In both productions, he played the role of a baseball player performing the song "(You Gotta Have) Heart". Komack also appeared in Frank Capra's film A Hole in the Head as Julius Manetta, the inept son of Mario (Edward G. Robinson) and Sophie (Thelma Ritter).

Early in his career, Komack worked as a stand-up comedian and was cast in sixteen episodes over three seasons as United States Navy millionaire dentist Harvey Spencer Blair III, in the CBS military sitcom/drama, Hennesey, starring Jackie Cooper and Abby Dalton. The second season he began writing some of the scripts.

Editorial summary

This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “James Komack” as american actor, television producer, director, and screenwriter (1924-1997). Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.

Editorial reviewStrongest as a route into the people, institutions and dated events that shaped the subject’s public record. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1924, 1997, 1894, 1956—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1924-08-03. The account is most persuasive where James, Komack and American can be independently traced.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

The subject matters to the people & ideas register because the source frames it as american actor, television producer, director, and screenwriter (1924-1997). Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.

Evidence profile

Biographical claims are most persuasive when dates, appointments and relationships can be traced to records created close to the events described. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 10, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q924650. VIAF identifies the subject as 73557718. The Library of Congress control number is no2004009195. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1924, 1997, 1894 and 1956.

Critical limits

Public reputation and documentary evidence do not always develop together; absence from a summary is not evidence of historical absence. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Read biographical claims against dates, named institutions and the cited references. Distinguish a subject’s later reputation from evidence produced during their lifetime.

Best used for
  • Establishing names and roles
  • Building a first chronology
  • Locating cited institutions
Verify next

Personal papers, civil or court records, institutional files and the scholarship cited by the source.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “James Komack”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow James Komack primary sources, James Komack archive and James research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “James Komack”?
  2. How has the subject’s reputation changed across later accounts?
  3. Which primary records establish identity, chronology and institutional ties?
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “James Komack” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.