In Memoriam

Roger Swaybill

Obituary

Novelist and Writer of "Porky's" Was 47

New York Times
February 22, 1991

Roger E. Swaybill, a screenwriter and novelist, died yesterday at New York Hospital. He was 47 years old and lived in Manhattan.

He died of a cerebral hemorrhage, his wife, Marion Lear Swaybill, said.

Mr. Swaybill was best known as a co-writer of the successful film comedy "Porky's," which opened in 1982. He also co-wrote a sequel, "Porky's 2: The Next Day," which appeared the following year; another film, "Breaking Point," and a television film for PBS, "The Lathe of Heaven," which was nominated for the Writers Guild Award.

He also published two novels, "Threads" and "Final Witness." His interests as a writer were wide-ranging, and at the time of his death he was working on a television series for children, a nonfiction book chronicling his experiences with Judaism, and two original screenplays, including "The Nine," the story of the reunion of a championship college rowing team, and "The Shrink," about a Beverly Hills sex therapist who becomes a pop culture hero.

Mr. Swaybill was born in New York City and graduated from the Bronx High School of Science. In 1964 he graduated from Yale University, where he was secretary of the Yale Dramatic Society and a member of Manuscript Society. He began his film career as an assistant to Stanley Kramer on "Ship of Fools" in 1964, after which he worked at United Artists and began writing film and television scripts part time. During his career he also wrote many short features, documentary and industrial films and short stories.

He is survived by his wife, who is the director of co-productions for Channel 13 in New York, whom he married in 1966.