David Angell

David Lawrence Angell (April 10, 1946 – September 11, 2001) was an American producer of sitcoms. Angell won multiple Emmy Awards as the creator and executive producer, along with Peter Casey and David Lee, of the comedy series Frasier. Angell and his wife Lynn both died heading home from their vacation in Cape Cod aboard American Airlines Flight 11. This was the first plane to hit the World Trade Center during the September 11 attacks.^[1]

Early life and education

Angell was born in Providence, Rhode Island, to Henry and Mae (née Cooney) Angell. He received a bachelor's degree in English Literature from Providence College.^[2] He married Lynn Angell on August 14, 1971. Soon after Angell entered the U.S. Army upon graduation and served at the Pentagon until 1972.^[2] He then moved to Boston and worked as a methods analyst at an engineering company and later at an insurance firm in Rhode Island.^[3] His brother, the late Most Rev. Kenneth Angell, was a Roman Catholic prelate and former Bishop of Burlington, Vermont.^[3]

Career

Angell moved to Los Angeles in 1977.^[2] His first script was sold to the producers of the Annie Flynn series. Five years later, he sold his second script to Archie Bunker's Place. In 1983, he joined Cheers as a staff writer.^[2] In 1985, Angell joined forces with Peter Casey and David Lee as Cheers supervising producers/writers.^[2] The trio received 37 Emmy Award nominations and won 24 Emmy Awards, including the above-mentioned for Frasier, as well as an Outstanding Comedy Series Emmy for Cheers, in 1989, which Angell, Casey, Lee and the series' other producers shared, and Outstanding Writing/Comedy Emmy for Cheers, which Angell received in 1984.^[2] After working together as producers on Cheers, Angell, Casey and Lee formed Grub Street Productions. In 1990, they created and executive-produced the comedy series Wings.^[2]

Death

Angell and his wife, Lynn, were among the passengers of American Airlines Flight 11 killed in the September 11 attacks when the plane was hijacked by members of Al Qaeda and flown into the North Tower of the World Trade Center in New York City in 2001.^[1][4][5]

Coincidentally, a 1997 episode of Frasier titled "Odd Man Out" (an episode which Angell co-wrote) features a woman's voice on Dr. Frasier Crane's answering machine stating she will arrive into Sea-Tac Airport on American Airlines' Flight 11. The episode was first broadcast on May 27, 1997: 4 years and 3 months before Angell and his wife perished aboard that same flight. Eerily, in the same episode a couple getting engaged in the same restaurant in which Frasier is dining alone, the man says to his fiancée that if they ever should die he hopes that it's at the same time so they wouldn't have to be apart.

Legacy

The names of David Angell and his wife are located atop Panel N-1 of the National September 11 Memorial's North Pool, along with other passengers from Flight 11.

The American Screenwriters Association awards the annual David Angell Humanitarian Award to any individual in the entertainment industry who contributes to global well-being through donations of time, expertise or other support to improve the human condition. ^[6]

In 2004, The Angell Foundation of Los Angeles, California awarded Providence College a gift of $2 million for the Smith Center for the Arts. ^[6]

Season 9, Episode 2, of Frasier (Don Juan in Hell: Part 2), airing on September 25, 2001, ended with the memorial tribute, "In loving memory of our friends Lynn and David Angell". Season 11, Episode 24 Goodnight, Seattle, the series finale which aired May 13, 2004, featured the birth of Niles and Daphne's son who is named David in tribute.

At the National 9/11 Memorial, Angell and his wife are memorialized at the North Pool, on Panel N-1, along with other passengers from Flight 11.^[7]

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to David Angell.

• David Angell at the Internet Movie Database