John Byrum

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 Song of the Cloud Forest (1969) show.

Byrum moved to Los Angeles to pursue film work after writing several screenplays, including Inserts (1975).

Byrum then worked with Tony Richardson and Berry Gordy, writing the script for the Diana Ross vehicle, Mahogany (1975).

Byrum directed his film Inserts (1975) with Richard Dreyfuss and Jessica Harper, then wrote and directed Heart Beat (1980) - based upon the lives of Jack Kerouac, Neal Cassady and Carolyn Cassady, starring Nick Nolte, Sissy Spacek and John Heard and followed with The Razor's Edge (1984) - co-written with Bill Murray and starring Murray, Catherine Hicks, Theresa Russell, James Keach and Denholm Elliott.

On the basis of that writing sample, he worked with producers Tony Bill, Don Devlin and Harry Gittes to write the script Harry and Walter Go to New York (1976) which was bought by Columbia Pictures for a record-breaking amount.

With the box office failure of The Razor's Edge (1984), Byrum directed the goof-ball comedy The 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.

The May 4, 1988, issue of Variety, in the Film Production section, announced that the movie "The War at Home" began filming April 15, 1988, in New York under the direction of John Byrum. Byrum wrote the script, loosely based on the life of Edie Segdwick. The cast included Linda Fiorentino. No evidence the film was ever completed.

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 Murder in High Places (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 The Eagles.