"Timon & Pumbaa" writer Daryl G. Nickens dies

Posted:
Jul 12, 2006

Screenwriter Daryl G. Nickens, whose TV series included Walt Disney Studios' animated The Lion King's Timon and Pumbaa, died Monday at his Los Angeles home at 57.

The cause of death was prostate cancer.

Nickens also wrote multiple episodes of the 1995 animated series Happily Ever After: Fairy Tales for Every Child, produced by Fil Cartoons Inc. for HBO. He was a former board member of the Writers Guild of America, West and a former vice-president of the Writers Guild Foundation. Nickens was treasurer of the foundation at the time of his death.

Born on January 21, 1949, the former collegiate football player was a producer of the Emmy-winning PBS series Life 360. He began his career writing for such series as Webster and Benson.

He wrote the screenplay of the 1991 theatrical movie House Party 2 -- the first feature film written by an African-American to open at #1 at the box office.

On the writing staff of A Different World and 227, he also episodes for The Parkers, Viper and The Famous Jett Jackson. Other TV series included A Different World and Harry and the Hendersons.

He was a writer for the 1992 Wonderworks movie You Must Remember This, which was nominated for a daytime Emmy. He was also the head writer for the 19th Annual NAACP Image Awards in 1987.

Nickens edited and contributed to the recently published Writers Guild Foundation book Doing It For Money -- The Agony and Ecstasy of Writing and Surviving in Hollywood. His essays appeared in The Journal of the Writers Guild of America, west; The Best American Movie Writing 2001; and The First Time I Got Paid For It: Writers' Tales From The Hollywood Trenches, for which he edited the sequel edition.

A resident of Westchester, California, he was a trustee of the Writers Guild Health and Pension Fund. He co-chaired Words Into Pictures 2002 for The Writers Guild Foundation.

He taught screenwriting at the USC School of Cinema-Television and in the Guy Alexander Hanks/Marvin Miller Screenwriting Program (sponsored by Bill Cosby). Nickens was a faculty member of The American Film Institute's AFI Conservatory and served as chair of its graduate screenwriting program.

As his illness progressed, Nickens moved his AFI classes to his home, where he taught "the fundamentals of screen and TV writing, and life itself,"said Leonard Schrader, chair of the AFI's screenwriting program.

He held screenwriting seminars at the Sundance Institute, the Acapulco Black Film Festival and The Jamerican Film Festival.

Nickens' work received nominations for Emmy and Writers Guild Awards, as well as the Writers Guild of Canada "Top Ten" Award, the NAACP Image Awards, and twice for the Humanitas Prize, most recently in 2001 for an episode of The Famous Jett Jackson.

Daryl G. Nickens is survived by his wife, Sally A. Travi, and his children, Matt and Julia.

A private service will be held Sunday, July 16. The Writers Guild of America, west, Writers Guild Foundation and USC Screenwriting Department will host an upcoming combined memorial service, details of which will be available later this week.

In lieu of flowers, the family has requested that donations be made in the name of Daryl G. Nickens to the Prostate Cancer Foundation, 1250 4th Street, Santa Monica, CA 90401.