Born on May 1, 1937 in Brooklyn, New York, the son of Bennett and Esther Garland nee Tumin, Mr. Garland attended St. John’s College in Annapolis, Maryland.

Mr. Garland’s first job in television was as a talent coordinator for “The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson” in 1969. He quickly rose to writer status where he helped prepare Carson’s nightly monologues.

Over time, Mr. Garland worked in many capacities in the film and television industry. He was best known for the Hollywood movies No Way Out (1987) with Kevin Costner, which he also produced; The Big Blue (1988) directed by Luc Besson; and The Electric Horseman (1979) with Robert Redford and Jane Fonda. He was an uncredited writer on other well know movies including Tootsie (1982) and Pretty Woman (1990). Additionally, he wrote many unproduced scripts, including a sequel to the 1956 box office hit Giant. Early in his career, he wrote episodes of popular sit-coms, including “That Girl,” “The Bill Cosby Show,” “Love American Style,” “The Bob Newhart Show,” and “Sanford and Son.”

Mr. Garland was a member of the Writers Guild of America.

Mr. Garland was a cousin of Melvin Tumin, the deceased Princeton University Professor and Sociologist known for his research on the inequalities of racial segregation in the 1960’s. Mr. Garland retired from screenwriting in the mid-1990s. He was devoted to travel and lived in a variety of places including Paris, France; the Liguria region of Italy; and Key West, Florida.

Mr. Garland is survived by his son Michael, an attorney in Washington, DC; his daughter-in-law Hedda Garland; and grandsons Jonah and Felix.