Joel Oliansky (October 11, 1935 – July 29, 2002) an Emmy-winning director and screenwriter, was best known for the screenplay of Bird (the 1988 biographic film about Charlie Parker), as well as writing and directing episodes of TV series including The Law, and Kojak.
[3] In his last year, he wrote the book for the Hofstra University Kaleidoscopians' musical Inertia which featured music by Steve Lawrence, lyrics by Francis Ford Coppola[4] and starred fellow-student Lainie Kazan; a drama scholarship at Hofstra is named in his memory.
He pursued a master's degree at Yale, during which course his 1962 play Here Comes Santa Claus was written and produced.
[5] He remained as playwright-in-residence at Yale until 1964, and directed two of the four plays comprising the initial season of the Hartford Stage Company, as well.
[7][8] Late in 1964, at the urging of fellow Hofstra alumnus Coppola[9] he moved to California to work as a screenwriter at Seven Arts.