Charles Shyer, whom I was friendly with during the aughts and early teens and whom I quite liked after we got to know each other following his divorce from longtime creative partner Nancy Meyers, has left the earth. He was 83.
Shyer’s salad days as a director-writer of mainstream feel-good relationship movies lasted for 20 years — Private Benjamin (’80 — directed by Howard Zeiff but co-written by Charles and Nancy), Irreconcilable Differences (’84), Baby Boom (1987), Father of the Bride (1991), Father of the Bride Part II (1995), The Parent Trap (which Nancy directed — Charles co-wrote and produced). Then came The Affair of the Necklace (’01) and Alfie (’04).
Nancy not only flourished but surpassed Charles after the turn of the century.
Friendo: “This one really hurts. Great guy…really funny and insightful.”
HE: “I considered Charles a fairly close acquaintance back in the aughts and up until 2014 or ‘15, and I liked him a lot….he had soul and grit and saw through the bullshit, and he really went for it. He didn’t lie. Very sad about this.
“The key Shyer moment for me was discovering moldy strawberries in his office after dropping by for a chat about The Affair of the Necklace. That told me he was a regular dude like myself. I really liked him after that.”
HE riff on dudes with the ability to have green baskets of moldy strawberries sitting in their work space:
