Simon won nine Primetime Emmy Awards and received ten further nominations for his work. For The Tracey Ullman Show he won the Emmys for Outstanding Variety, Music Or Comedy Series in 1989 and Outstanding Writing In A Variety Or Music Program in 1990. In the former he was nominated again in 1990, for the latter he was also nominated in 1987, 1988 and 1989. He received the Emmy for Outstanding Animated Program (for Programming Less Than One Hour) for The Simpsons in 1990, 1991, 1995, 1997, 1998, 2000 and 2001 with further nominations in 1990 (for "Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire" which was counted as a separate special), 1992, 1996, 1999 and 2002. He was nominated for Outstanding Comedy Series for Taxi in 1983 and Cheers in 1985, Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series for It's Garry Shandling's Show in 1988 and Outstanding Variety, Music Or Comedy Special for The Best of Tracey Ullman Show in 1990. He also won a Peabody Award for The Simpsons in 1996. In 2013, Simon was awarded the Writers Guild of America Award Animation Writers Caucus lifetime achievement award for his work in animation; the following year the WGA awarded him the Valentine Davies Award for his humanitarian and philanthropic efforts.
Samuel Michael Simon was born on June 6, 1955 in Los Angeles, California, United States. He grew up in Beverly Hills and Malibu. Simon's family lived opposite Groucho Marx. Simon's father was a cheap clothing manufacturer and was of Estonian-Jewish heritage. Simon had a childhood which has been described as "comfortable" and "privileged". Although his parents wanted Simon to become a Lawyer, Simon was interested in art from a young age, appearing on televised local art programs at the age of five. He once was told by Walt Disney that he would one day work at his studio.
Simon attended Beverly Hills High School, where he was on the football team and served as a Cartoonist for the school newspaper. He was awarded "Most Humorous" and "Most Talented" in his senior yearbook. He later attended Stanford University, graduating in 1977. Simon had not wished to attend college, but Stanford persuaded him to apply due to his sufficient grades and proficiency at football; Simon quit the football team after one day. Simon drew comics for the college newspaper, but was denied admission to a drawing class for not being talented enough. As he recalled to the Stanford alumni magazine, he was told, “You’d be taking the space of a student who has talent.” Simon majored in psychology, but did not focus on his academics.
While still at Stanford, Simon's first job was a newspaper Sports Cartoonist for The San Francisco Chronicle and The San Francisco Examiner. After graduating, he worked as a television storyboard Artist, and later a Writer, at Filmation Studios. There he worked on several animated shows, including The New Adventures of Mighty Mouse and Heckle & Jeckle and Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids (1979). Simon recalls Filmation approving of his work because he was "self-taught and unschooled," but Simon felt the majority of what the studio produced was "awful". On the suggestion of Filmation Producer Lou Scheimer who was impressed by Simon's writing ability, Simon submitted a spec script for the series Taxi which was produced and aired in 1981 during its third season. Simon was hired as a Writer, quickly becoming showrunner for its fifth and final season in 1983. Simon next worked as a Writer and Producer on Cheers from seasons one to three (1982–1985), writing five episodes: "Endless Slumper", "Battle of the Ex's", "Fairytales Can Come True", "Cheerio Cheers" and "The Bartender's Tale". Simon created, wrote and produced the short-lived sitcom Shaping Up in 1984, alongside Ken Estin; the show starred Leslie Nielsen as a gym owner and ran for five episodes on ABC. Simon also wrote and produced for Best of the West (1981), Barney Miller (1982) and It's Garry Shandling's Show (1987–1988), and wrote the 1991 film The Super.
Simon was married to Actress Jennifer Tilly from 1984 to 1991 and remained friends with her. He married Playboy Playmate Jami Ferrell in 2000, and the marriage lasted three weeks. Simon was engaged to chef and caterer Jenna Stewart around 2011. He was dating Kate Porter, a make-up Artist, from 2012 until his death. Simon had three dogs, supported the Democratic Party, and was vegan.
Simon won nine Primetime Emmy Awards and received ten further nominations for his work. For The Tracey Ullman Show he won the Emmys for Outstanding Variety, Music Or Comedy Series in 1989 and Outstanding Writing In A Variety Or Music Program in 1990. In the former he was nominated again in 1990, for the latter he was also nominated in 1987, 1988 and 1989. He received the Emmy for Outstanding Animated Program (for Programming Less Than One Hour) for The Simpsons in 1990, 1991, 1995, 1997, 1998, 2000 and 2001 with further nominations in 1990 (for "Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire" which was counted as a separate special), 1992, 1996, 1999 and 2002. He was nominated for Outstanding Comedy Series for Taxi in 1983 and Cheers in 1985, Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series for It's Garry Shandling's Show in 1988 and Outstanding Variety, Music Or Comedy Special for The Best of Tracey Ullman Show in 1990. He also won a Peabody Award for The Simpsons in 1996. In 2013, Simon was awarded the Writers Guild of America Award Animation Writers Caucus lifetime achievement award for his work in animation; the following year the WGA awarded him the Valentine Davies Award for his humanitarian and philanthropic efforts.
Simon was a long time fan of boxing, attending fights with his grandfather, but his interest increased particularly after seeing the 1990 heavyweight championship fight between Evander Holyfield and James "Buster" Douglas which he described as "the most electrifying feeling I'd had in my life." He began training and won six out of nine amateur fights; he was also a reserve contestant on the Fox series Celebrity Boxing. Simon was for eight years the manager of heavyweight boxer Lamon Brewster, the now-retired former World Boxing Organization heavyweight champion. He met Brewster in 1997 and began managing him, helping him rise to the top of the WBO rankings. He considers guiding Brewster to his April 2004 victory over Wladimir Klitschko to win the vacant WBO Heavyweight Championship, with Klitschko the heavy favorite, to be amongst the greatest moments of his life; it "eclipsed everything he had achieved in a glittering 26-year showbiz career." Before the Klitschko fight, Simon calculated he had spent several hundred thousand dollars funding Brewster, paying him a large salary on top of match fees as well as letting him stay rent-free at one of his houses, and taking only a 10% cut of the match fees; however, he never intended boxing to be a substantial "source of revenue". Simon retired from boxing management soon after Brewster became WBO Heavyweight Champion.
As well as Groening, Simon was often at odds with Brooks and production company Gracie Films. While working on The Simpsons, he and Brooks had co-created the series Sibs (1991) and Phenom (1993) as part of a multi-series deal for ABC. Simon did not want to work on either series, both of which were poorly received and swiftly canceled, which put a strain on the pair's relationship.
Simon left Gracie Films and The Simpsons in 1993; he commented that he "wasn't enjoying it anymore," wished to pursue other projects, and "that any show I've ever worked on, it turns me into a Monster. I go crazy. I hate myself." Before leaving, he negotiated a deal that saw him receive a share of the show's profits every year, particularly from home media, and an executive Producer credit despite not having worked on the show since 1993. The deal means he made over $10 million a year from The Simpsons; he later told Stanford Magazine that "tens of millions" was a closer figure. Simon commented: "When I was there I thought I was underpaid. I thought I wasn't getting enough credit for it. Now, I think it's completely the opposite. I get too much credit for it. And the money is ridiculous."
In January 1994, Simon co-created with Comedian George Carlin the sitcom The George Carlin Show for Fox. It aired for 27 episodes before being canceled in December 1995. Simon served as showrunner throughout its run and directed several episodes. Simon persuaded Carlin to do the show after writing it as something which would not be "typically sitcomy." He conceived the show as what Carlin's life would have been like had he never become a comedian; Carlin played a heavy drinking New York taxi driver. Simon commented: "When I was doing The Simpsons, people couldn't see how smart it was because of the low moments. There's something about this show. People who like it say it's classy. They don't see how vulgar it is." Carlin wrote negatively of his relationship with Simon. On his own website, Carlin wrote of the show: "always check mental health of creative partner beforehand. Loved the actors, loved the crew. Had a great time. Couldn't wait to get the fuck out of there." In his final book, the posthumously published Last Words (2009), Carlin elaborated: "I had a great time. I never laughed so much, so often, so hard as I did with cast members Alex Rocco, Chris Rich, Tony Starke. There was a very strange, very good sense of humor on that stage ... The biggest Problem, though, was that Sam Simon was a fucking horrible person to be around. Very, very funny, extremely bright and brilliant, but an unhappy person who treated other people poorly." Simon described himself as "combative" and said that most people see him as having a "bad attitude".
From 1999 to some time in the early 2000s, Simon was President of e-Nexus Studios the once entertainment content arm of ZeniMax Media, Parent Company of video game publisher Bethesda Softworks. After E-Nexus was shut down, Simon became President of the creative group at ZeniMax Productions, another subsidiary of ZeniMax.
Simon was a staunch advocate for animal rights. Starting in 2002, Simon self-funded, at an annual cost of several million dollars, The Sam Simon Foundation, which has a mobile clinic that provides free surgeries for cats and dogs, as well as rescuing and retraining shelter dogs who might otherwise be euthanized. An episode of 60 Minutes broadcast in March 2007 described it as "the grandest dog shelter in the country, a five star, [6 acres (0.024 km; 0.0094 sq mi)] spread in Malibu, perhaps the most desirable real estate on the planet. Here, among the waterfalls and the manicured grounds, The Sam Simon Foundation gives stray and abandoned dogs a new lease on life, literally."
Simon turned to fields outside television in his later years. Simon regularly appeared on Howard Stern's radio shows, managed boxer Lamon Brewster and helped guide Lamon to the World Boxing Organization Heavyweight Championship in 2004 and was a regular poker player and six-time in the money finisher at the World Series of Poker. Simon founded the Sam Simon Foundation, which consists of a mobile veterinary clinic that goes into low-income neighborhoods offering free surgeries for cats and dogs several days per week, as well as a program that rescues and trains shelter dogs. He also funded the self-christened Sea Shepherd Conservation Society vessel the MY Sam Simon. Simon was engaged at the time of his death, having been previously twice married, including to the Actress Jennifer Tilly. Following a profile of Simon on 60 Minutes in 2007, CBS Writer Daniel Schorn wrote in an online article that Simon was "perhaps the Renaissance man of the baffling, uncertain age we live in."
After leaving The Simpsons and The George Carlin Show, Simon sought to find a "life outside television," as working in the industry "made [him] crazy." On working in television, Simon concluded: "In some ways, it's the greatest job in the world. You make a product that's given away, and all it does is make people smile. Nobody gets hurt, there's no damage, and you can get crazy rich." Simon retired from full-time television work, although still worked in the media, frequently contributing, as a Writer and a participant, to Howard Stern's radio shows. He wrote and directed the one-off radio sitcom "The Bitter Half" for Stern's Howard 101 in 2006. Simon had his own show on Radioio. Simon returned to television production work in 2012, serving as a consultant and Director on the series Anger Management for half a day a week.
He lived in Pacific Palisades, Los Angeles, in the restored Bailey House, designed by Richard Neutra. After his home was destroyed by a fire in 2007, Simon redesigned it to be environmentally friendly; much of the interior is constructed from recycled materials while solar panels provide virtually its entire power needs. The building has a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design Gold certificate. He had an extensive art collection; he owned paintings by Thomas Hart Benton, John Singer Sargent and one of the original casts of Auguste Rodin's The Thinker. He also had a sculpture by Robert Graham and works by Alberto Vargas, Gil Elvgren, Ed Ruscha and Richard Estes.
As Simon explained, the foundation aims to "rescue dogs" and "train them to be Service dogs, [to help] people with disabilities," primarily the deaf. It also provides free veterinary surgeries to pets belonging to low-income families, and trains dogs to help Soldiers returning from combat in Iraq and Afghanistan deal with post-traumatic stress disorder. Simon said the money he used was "well spent just for the pleasure it gives me." The training program has a 20% success rate, because many of the rescued dogs "have physical and psychological problems" but the dogs who cannot be trained are put up for adoption. The foundation is non-profit, does not accept public donations, but does receive some federal government funding due to a bill written and passed by Senator Al Franken. In 2011, Simon established and self-funded the Sam Simon Foundation Feeding Families program, a food truck which delivers vegan food to low-income families; the program helps feed some 200 families per week. He donated an undisclosed sum to the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society in 2012 for the purpose of purchasing another vessel for their fleet, the MY Sam Simon, which was unveiled in December 2012. Simon was also a board member for Save the Children, and hosted the largest annual fundraiser for PETA, who named him an Honorary Director and their Norfolk, Virginia headquarters building after him. Simon has stated that animal rights charities have been his main target for donations, over other causes like human disease and environmental damage, because "your money can bring success" with visible results. Simon stated in 2011 that there is "nothing [which gives him] more pleasure than" helping others via his charities, and gave away most of his fortune.
Simon has been credited with "developing [the show's] sensibility". Former Simpsons Director Brad Bird has described him as "the unsung hero" of the show, while Vitti has stated to "leave out Sam Simon" is to tell "the managed version" of The Simpsons' history, because "he was the guy we wrote for." Writer Ken Levine called Simon "the real creative force behind The Simpsons...The tone, the storytelling, the level of humor – that was all developed on Sam's watch." Levine says that Simon "brought a level of honesty to the characters" and made them "three-dimensional", adding that his "comedy is all about character, not just a string of gags. In The Simpsons, the characters are motivated by their emotions and their foibles. 'What are they thinking?'—that is Sam's contribution. The stories come from the characters." Simon crafted much of the world of Springfield and designed the Models for many of the show's recurring characters, including Mr. Burns, Dr. Hibbert, Chief Wiggum and Eddie and Lou, as well as many of the one-time and guest star roles, such as Bleeding Gums Murphy. One of his contributions to the show's character development was his proposal that Waylon Smithers should be gay, but that this should never have too much attention drawn to it; Smithers' sexuality became one of the show's longest-running gags. Simon saw The Simpsons as a chance to solve "what [he] didn't like about the Saturday-morning cartoon shows [he had] worked on...[he] wanted all the actors in a room together, not reading their lines separated from each other. The Simpsons would have been a great radio show. If you just Listen to the sound track, it works."
Although they initially worked well together, Simon and Groening's relationship became "very contentious" according to Groening. Simon never expected the show to be a success, often proclaiming to fellow staff members "We're thirteen and out"—meaning that the show would be canceled after the thirteen episodes of the first season. Therefore, he also told the staff that they had creative freedom to do whatever they wanted to make The Simpsons as good a show as possible, regardless of network or public opinion, because he thought it inevitably would not be renewed; he elaborated in 2009 that "really I was saying that to take the pressure off of everyone. I was just saying let's just go out and make 13 episodes that are really good and really funny." However, Groening interpreted it as meaning Simon was uncommitted and did not care whether the show was a success or not, as Simon's career would survive, whereas his own would not. In 2001, Groening described Simon as "brilliantly funny and one of the smartest Writers I've ever worked with, although unpleasant and mentally unbalanced." According to John Ortved's book The Simpsons: An Uncensored, Unauthorized History, when the show became successful Simon resented the media attention Groening received, particularly the praise for the show's writing; Simon felt that Groening's involvement was limited, and that he should have been the one receiving credit for the show. Simon later spoke well of Groening's influence, particularly on the show's positive tone.
In late 2012, Simon was diagnosed with terminal colorectal cancer which later metastasized to his other organs, including his liver and kidneys. He had been feeling ill for some time and had earlier been misdiagnosed. He was given between three and six months to live; chemotherapy treatment reduced the size of his tumors over the following six months. He arranged for his fortune to be left to various charitable causes, stating "The truth is, I have more money than I'm interested in spending. Everyone in my family is taken care of. And I enjoy this." Simon died in his Los Angeles home from complications from the disease on March 8, 2015, aged 59. His remains were interred at Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery in Los Angeles.
