O’Kun, Lan (13th January 1932-Present)

Screenwriter and songwriter born in Manhattan, New York, who is the brother in law of Shari Lewis and the producer Jeremy Tarcher and the writer Judith Krantz and the producer Steve Krantz and the uncle to the actors Mallory Tarcher and Brad Hood.

He contributed to several of the most popular television programmes of the ’70s and ’80s, including Finder of Lost Loves, Highway to Heaven, The Love Boat, Star Trek: The Next Generation, and the new version of The Twilight Zone. He has collaborated extensively with his sister-in-law, puppeteer Shari Lewis, writing a series of one-minute stories for children, and even grooming Shari’s most famous puppet, Lamb Chop, for the Broadway stage.

In 2004, he returned to his alma mater, Syracuse University, to emcee the revival and celebrate the 50^th anniversary of Up in Lights, a student production for which he co-wrote the music and lyrics.

Some of his extra-curricular achievements include the songs “The Best Gift”, which Barbra Streisand recorded on A Christmas Album, “In the Summer of My Life” by Ray Price, and “That’s What God Looks Like To Me”, recorded by Frank Sinatra. Lan O’Kun has won seven Emmy Awards and composed or written for over 1300 TV episodes, including Tales of the Riverbank, an English-based children’s programme that is the longest-running show of its kind, playing to audiences in almost ninety countries, in about fifty different languages. He was also the musical director for NBC-TV for eight years.

Frank Sinatra recordings
That’s What God Looks Like To Me (Stan Irvin/Lan O’Kun)

Sources:

O’Kun, Lan (13th January 1932-Present)

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