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Personal Info

Birth date

1942-12-30 (82 Years)

Day of death

2021-12-10

Gender

Male

Known for

Acting

Place of birth

Houston, Texas, USA

Also known as

The Monkees
Mike Nesmith

Michael Nesmith

Biography

Robert Michael Nesmith (December 30, 1942 – December 10, 2021) was an American musician, songwriter, actor, producer, and novelist. He was best known as a member of the pop rock band the Monkees and co-star of the TV series The Monkees (1966–1968). His songwriting credits include "Different Drum", which became a hit for Linda Ronstadt and the Stone Poneys.

After the break-up of the Monkees, Nesmith continued his successful songwriting and performing career, first with the seminal country rock group the First National Band, with whom he had a top-40 hit, "Joanne", and then as a solo artist. He often played a custom-built Gretsch 12-string electric with the Monkees and afterwards.

Nesmith founded Pacific Arts, a multimedia production and distribution company, in 1974, through which he helped pioneer the music video format. He created one of the first American television programs dedicated to music videos, PopClips, which aired on Nickelodeon in 1980. He was asked to help produce and create MTV, but had prior commitments with his production company. In 1981, he won the first Grammy Award for Video of the Year for his hour-long television show, Elephant Parts. He was also an executive producer of the film Repo Man (1984).

Description above from the Wikipedia article Michael Nesmith, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.

Filmography

Television Parts poster

Television Parts

5

Overview:

Michael Nesmith in Television Parts is a summer TV series run by NBC in 1985. It was a 30-minute comedy-variety series created by Michael Nesmith as a continuation of his Grammy Award-winning video production Elephant Parts, and earlier series PopClips. The first episode was a stand-alone television special which aired on March 7, 1985. The following series premiered on June 14, 1985. The show was a mix of music videos mixed in with comedy sketches, commercial parodies, and general silliness. It was hosted by Nesmith himself, who also participated in many of the sketches. Television Parts also featured guest appearances by a number of comedians, including Martin Mull, Whoopi Goldberg, Jay Leno, Jerry Seinfeld, Bill Martin, The Funny Boys and Garry Shandling, whose appearance on the show was the seed for It's Garry Shandling's Show. One of the show's featured pieces, "Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey" was later picked up by Saturday Night Live. The show was cancelled after one short summer season that same year. It would return in 1985 as two separate home video releases on VHS and Betamax, Television Parts Home Companion and Dr. Duck's Super Secret All-Purpose Sauce. The first was a 40-minute compilation of original show featuring the comedy skits and music by Michael Nesmith only. Dr. Duck's Super Secret All-Purpose Sauce was a 90-minute montage of sketch comedy with a variety of stars and music videos. The stars included Bobcat Goldthwait, Ed Begley, Jr., Jimmy Buffett, Rosanne Cash, Whoopi Goldberg, Jay Leno, Jerry Seinfeld and Garry Shandling.

Acting

2020Laurel Canyon (2 Episodes) as Self (archive footage)

2019I Want My MTV as Self

2015Boyce & Hart: The Guys Who Wrote 'Em as Unknown

2007Making The Monkees as Unknown

1997Behind the Music (1 Episode) as Self

1997Hey, Hey, It's the Monkees as Mike

1997Hey, Hey, We're The Monkees as Self

1996E! True Hollywood Story (1 Episode) as Unknown

1992Michael Nesmith on Austin City Limits as Unknown

1992Michael Nesmith Live at the Britt Festival as Unknown

1988Tapeheads as Water Man

1987Burglar as Cabbie

1986Barbecue Death Squad From Hell as Unknown

1985Dr. Duck's Super Secret All-Purpose Sauce as Unknown

1985Television Parts Home Companion as Self

1984MTV Video Music Awards (1 Episode) as Self

1984Repo Man as Rabbi

1982Timerider: The Adventure of Lyle Swann as Race Official (uncredited)

1981Elephant Parts as Unknown

196933 ⅓ Revolutions per Monkee as Himself/Monkee #3

1968Head as Mike

1966The Monkees (58 Episodes) as Mike

1964Top of the Pops (2 Episodes) as Self

Creator

TBAPopClips ... Creator

1985Television Parts ... Creator

Directing

1997Hey, Hey, It's the Monkees ... Director

1986Barbecue Death Squad From Hell ... Director

Production

1997Hey, Hey, It's the Monkees ... Executive Producer

1988Tapeheads ... Executive Producer

1987Square Dance ... Producer

1984Repo Man ... Executive Producer

1981Elephant Parts ... Executive Producer

Sound

1982Timerider: The Adventure of Lyle Swann ... Original Music Composer

1981Elephant Parts ... Songs

1976The Northville Cemetery Massacre ... Original Music Composer