Jim Abrahams, co-writer/director of Airplane!, dead at 80

Jim Abrahams, who co-wrote and co-directed Airplane and a number of other comedy movies with Jerry and David Zucker, has died. Abrahams’ son confirmed to Best In Business 2024 that the filmmaker died of natural causes in his Santa Monica home on Tuesday. He was 80 years old. 

Abrahams was born in Wisconsin and became friends with the Zucker brothers in childhood. The longtime friends became writing partners and helped co-found Kentucky Fried Theater in Madison. After moving the live show to Los Angeles, they caught the attention of comedy filmmaker John Landis, who helped bring the show to the screen. Following the success of their sketch movie, the trio—who became known as ZAZ—were looking for their next project when they happened to see Zero Hour! on television. The 1957 drama became the basis for their first parody film, Airplane!

“We were sort of credible after Kentucky Fried Movie, but we attached ourselves as directors, so that was a dealbreaker in most places. But we shopped it everywhere,” Abrahams recalled in an interview with The A.V. Club. “Somebody told me that they’d read a copy of the screenplay. I said, ‘Oh, yeah? Where’d you find it?’ And they said, ‘I found it on a bus.’ [Laughs.] I think that’s probably actually a true story, because there were copies all over the place.”

Airplane! ultimately found a home at Paramount and became not only a massive commercial success but also a cultural phenomenon. The movie made ZAZ the preeminent parodists of their era, bringing their talents to other projects like the short-lived TV series Police Squad and its film spin-offs, The Naked Gun franchise (which starred Airplane! actor Leslie Nielsen). As a solo director, Abrahams helmed the 1988 Bette Midler/Lily Tomlin comedy Big Business and 1990’s Welcome Home, Roxy Carmichael, starring Winona Ryder. Abrahams also directed the 1991 Top Gun spoof Hot Shots!, which he co-wrote with Pat Proft. 

ZAZ’s influence on comedy can be seen in the work of many modern parodists, including the Wayans brothers’ Scary Movie franchise—which became all the more evident when the Wayans exited and David Zucker stepped in as an architect of Scary Movies three through five. Abrahams’ final writing credit was as a co-writer on Scary Movie 4 with Proft and Craig Mazin. But Airplane! remains the gold standard of the genre to this day. 

“If you’d told us at the time that it’d still be this popular, I’m not sure we would’ve believed you. I don’t even think we were thinking about that. I think we were just thinking, ‘Hey, wow, we made a movie!’” Abrahams reflected in The A.V. Club‘s 2015 oral history of Airplane! “We thought it was funny, but that it’s lasted this long? No. A couple of months ago, I was at a party somewhere, and a boy came up to me who was, like, 8 or 10 years old, and he said, ‘Oh, I really liked Airplane! I thought it was really funny!’ And I said, ‘How was it that you came to see it?’ And he said, ‘Well, my grandfather made me watch it.’ [Laughs.] If you’d told us in 1980 that the grandkids of the audience would be the ones who’d keep the movie going, it would’ve been very gratifying. But I don’t think we ever anticipated it. And it’s one of the great thrills, I think, of all of our lives that it still remains well known.”