John Williams Byrum was born and raised in Winnetka, Illinois. While
attending NYU Film School, he worked as an intern for
Jim Henson and the Muppets,
eventually working as a writer on the new
Sesamstraße (1969) show.
Byrum moved to Los Angeles to pursue film work after writing several
screenplays, including Nahaufnahmen (1975). On
the basis of that writing sample, he worked with producers
Tony Bill,
Don Devlin and
Harry Gittes to write the script
Und Morgen wird ein Ding Gedreht (1976)
which was bought by Columbia Pictures for a record-breaking amount.
Byrum then worked with
Tony Richardson and
Berry Gordy, writing the script for the
Diana Ross vehicle,
Mahagoni (1975). Byrum directed his film
Nahaufnahmen (1975) with
Richard Dreyfuss and
Jessica Harper, then wrote and
directed Herzschläge (1980) - based
upon the lives of Jack Kerouac,
Neal Cassady and
Carolyn Cassady, starring
Nick Nolte,
Sissy Spacek and
John Heard and followed with
Auf Messers Schneide (1984) -
co-written with Bill Murray and
starring Murray, Catherine Hicks,
Theresa Russell,
James Keach and
Denholm Elliott. With the box office
failure of
Auf Messers Schneide (1984), Byrum
directed the goof-ball comedy
Die Whoopee Boys (1986) starring
Michael O'Keefe and
Paul Rodriguez and various
stand-up comedians of the time, along with
Denholm Elliott and
Carole Shelley. Byrum turned to
television, creating, writing and producing the critically-praised
series Middle Ages (1992)
starring Peter Riegert and writing,
directing and producing the TV film/pilot
Mord von oben (1991),
loosely based on a fictional
Hunter Thompson-type character.
Other series created, written and produced by Byrum include
Winnetka Road (1994) and
South of Sunset (1993), a
television show that starred rock legend
Glenn Frey of
Eagles. Byrum's original screenplay
Traumpaare: Duets (2000) was due to begin production,
starring Brad Pitt and
Gwyneth Paltrow, when the couple's
broken engagement derailed the project temporarily. "Duets" was
eventually made with Gwyneth Paltrow,
her father Bruce Paltrow directing, with
Scott Speedman in the role originally
pegged for Brad Pitt.
John Byrum has two children and resides in Connecticut with his wife
and dogs.
