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Jeff Lenburg, a writer-producer and television personality, is best known for film and television documentaries, including "I Know That Voice" (2013), "Picture Perfect: The Making of Sleeping Beauty" (2008), and "The Story of the Boys Republic" (1992), and network series and specials, including "E! Mysteries & Scandals" (1999).
Jeff broke into the business writing, producing, and directing various short films, including an adaptation of Willie Nelson's classic song, "The Red Headed Stranger." He trained as a screenwriter under a Director Guild of America-sponsored protégé of Academy Award-winning film director Arthur Hiller and director Richard Donner. As a co-producer, Jeff worked alongside Emmy Award-winning documentary producer, Don Bresnahan. In addition, he served as an adviser to Cartoon Network on its advisory board in the development and acquisition of its on-air programming, including series and specials.
Jeff is also a prolific, award-winning author of more than 35 books, including celebrity memoirs, celebrity biographies, and two national best sellers. His books have been nominated for the American Library Association's "Best Non-Fiction Award" and the Evangelical Christian Publisher Association's "Gold Medallion Award" for "Best Autobiography/Biography," and have been translated in numerous languages.
In his teens, Jeff began interviewing many famous Hollywood personalities and became a frequent contributor to many leading and respected film journals and magazines that published his freelance work.
As one of the nation's premier biographers, Jeff has authored 18 acclaimed celebrity memoirs and biographies. They include: "Renegade at Heart," the autobiography of actor Lorenzo Lamas (of TV's "Renegade" and "Falcon Crest" fame); the eight-book "Legends of Animation" series featuring biographies of Tex Avery, Walt Disney, William Hanna and Joseph Barbera, Matt Groening, Walter Lantz, John Lasseter, Hayao Miyazaki, and Genndy Tartakovsky; "How to Make a Million Dollars With Your Voice (Or Lose Your Tonsils Trying)" with radio/TV legend Gary Owens; "All the Gold In California and Other People, Places & Things" with Grammy-winning singer/songwriter Larry Gatlin; "Peekaboo: The Story of Veronica Lake," the only authorized biography of her; "Dudley Moore: An Informal Biography"; "Dustin Hoffman: Hollywood's Antihero"; "Steve Martin: An Unauthorized Biography," and eight-book "Legends of Animation" series.
An acknowledged authority on cartoon animation, Jeff has spent three decades preserving its history. He has penned seven books about the history of this lively art: three editions of "The Encyclopedia of Animated Cartoons," the most comprehensive history on animated cartoons ever produced; "Who's Who in Animated Cartoons," the first-ever international guide to film and television's award-winning and legendary animators; "The Great Cartoon Directors;" and two editions of "The Encyclopedia of Animated Cartoon Series," the first reference book on animated cartoons ever written. In addition, he is the author of "Career Opportunities in Animation," the most comprehensive career guide written for beginning and experienced animation professionals, for Ferguson Publishing.
In 1993, for his work as an animation historian, Jeff was inducted into the "Cartoon Legends Walk of Fame" in Hollywood along with celebration cartoon icons Bill Hanna, Joe Barbera and Friz Freleng.
Jeff is also a foremost expert on the Three Stooges comedy team. A close friend of Stooges Moe Howard, Larry Fine, Joe Besser and Joe DeRita, he co-authored two books about this wacky comedy trio: "The Three Stooges Scrapbook," indisputably the most complete history of the Stooges ever written, and "Once A Stooge, Always A Stooge," the autobiography of Three Stooges member Joe Besser.
Jeff is also the author of numerous popular references: two editions of "The Facts On File Guide to Research," the most comprehensive guide ever written on the subject of writing and research; and "Baseball's All-Star Game," a definitive game-by-game history of baseball's mid-summer classic.
In addition, Jeff has turned to writing fiction. In 1995, he published his first novel, a classic Hollywood "whodunit," "Scared to Death: A Lori Matrix Hollywood Mystery." In 2021, he penned a second novel, a hard-boiled mystery, entitled "Deadly Liaisons."
During his career, Jeff has interviewed dozens of other major personalities, world figures and headline-makers, including baseball Hall of Famers George Brett and Nolan Ryan, tennis star Chris Evert, former First Lady Betty Ford, and controversial and former New York policeman Frank Serpico.
A popular media figure, Jeff has been featured on more than 100 major-market radio and television programs around the world, including "BBC Live," "CBS Evening News," NBC's "Today Show," "Entertainment Tonight," CNN's "Showbiz Today," and "The Dennis Miller Show," and major magazines and newspapers, including "USA Today," the "Los Angeles Times," the "New York Times" and the "Washington Post."
In recognition of his achievements, Jeff is listed in such prominent references as Contemporary Authors and Men of Achievement, and was awarded the "Journalism Alumnus of the Year Award" by his alma mater, Fullerton College.
