Buck Henry: Tributes paid to late screenwriter of The Graduate

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Buck Henry in 2013Image source, Getty Images
Image caption,

The screenwriter and actor was born Buck Henry Zuckerman in 1930

Tributes have been paid to Buck Henry, the Oscar-nominated writer who helped bring The Graduate to the screen.

Henry, who has died aged 89, got his first Oscar nomination in 1968 for The Graduate, which he wrote with Calder Willingham.

Barbra Streisand, who appeared in two 1970s films Henry wrote, tweeted "Rest in Peace, external", while producer Judd Apatow called him "hilarious and brilliant, external".

Actor-director Albert Brooks said he had "loved working with him, external".

They worked together on Brooks' 1991 film Defending Your Life.

Henry got his first Oscar nomination in 1968 for The Graduate, which he wrote with Calder Willingham.

He also appeared in Mike Nichols' film, adapted from a Charles Webb novel, playing a hotel clerk who asks Dustin Hoffman's character if he is "here for an affair".

Henry's wife Irene Ramp told the Washington Post, external her husband died of a heart attack.

Henry, born Buck Henry Zuckerman in 1930, was Oscar-nominated again in 1979 for co-directing Warren Beatty's fantasy Heaven Can Wait.

His other screenwriting credits include the 1970 film version of Catch-22, Goldie Hawn comedy Protocol and Nicole Kidman's 1995 film To Die For.

Image source, Getty Images
Image caption,

Henry (right) as he appeared alongside Dustin Hoffman in The Graduate

Henry co-created spy spoof Get Smart with Mel Brooks and was a regular Saturday Night Live host in the 1970s.

He also made numerous acting appearances, notably as the father of Tina Fey's character in 30 Rock and as himself in The Player.

Henry is seen at the beginning of Robert Altman's Hollywood satire pitching The Graduate Part 2 to Tim Robbins' studio executive.

Comedian Michael McKean, from Saturday Night Live and This Is Spinal Tap, remembered Henry as "a brilliant talent and a really lovely guy, external".

"Screenwriting, comedy and wit were his forte and he did it better than anyone," tweeted Marlee Matlin, external, Oscar-winning star of Children of a Lesser God.

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