Who is Linwood Boomer?
Linwood Boomer was born on 9 October 1955, in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. He is a writer, producer and actor, perhaps still best known for his work on the show “Little House on the Prairie”, in which he portrayed Adam Kendall. He later became the creator of the sitcom “Malcolm in the Middle”.
The Net Worth of Linwood Boomer
As of mid-2020, Linwood Boomer’s net worth is estimated to be over $60 million, earned through a successful career in the entertainment industry. While he has earned significant income with acting work, it is his work as a producer that truly elevated him to larger riches.
He still occasionally works as an actor, though his work has been mostly sporadic.
Early Life and Career Beginnings
Linwood grew up in Vancouver, the third of four children in a lower-middle-class household. He later got into a gifted program in school. Growing up as the middle child in the family would later contribute to his work in “Malcolm in the Middle”. As he grew up, he developed an interest in acting and began pursuing professional projects after school.
His first appearance was on television in the movie “Suddenly, Love”, in which he portrayed Dave Busby. The film starred Cindy Williams, and gained modest reviews even though it didn’t have widespread reach.
Following his work there, he then appeared as a guest in “Hawaii Five-O”, a police procedural show following the exploits of a special task force residing in Hawaii. The show took inspiration from an actual unit that existed during martial law in Hawaii around World War II; the show was successful and was later revived in the 2010s.
Little House on the Prairie
In 1978, Boomer was cast in his first and only regular series role, in “Little House on the Prairie”. The show is a Western set in a farm during the 1870s, progressing over two decades during its entire run, and based on the “Little House” books written by Laura Ingalls Wilder.
Stars of the show included Michael Landon, Karen Grassle, and Melissa Gilbert. The show was initially introduced through a pilot movie, but eventually ran for eight years, though Linwood was only in it during the later seasons.
During the show’s run, it focused on the Ingalls family who lived on the farm, depicting their relationships, interactions with the community, and a look at life in the US during the 19th century. Other characters were later introduced and became regular parts of the show. Linwood played a teacher who turned lawyer beginning from season four, who starts a relationship with Mary Ingalls and the two later married.
During his time in the show, he became increasingly interested in production, and what works behind the scenes, learning from the crew members in “Little House of Prairie”. After the show’s end, he shifted his focus more to production and writing, taking acting roles less and less.
Production and Writing
Linwood only appeared as a guest for several notable shows during the 1980s, as he began developing his skills as a writer. Some of his projects during this period included “Fantasy Island”, “The Love Boat”, and the soap “The Young and the Restless”. Eventually, he was given credit for writing episodes of several notable shows, including “Night Court” and “The Boys Are Back”.
LINWOOD BOOMER Earthstock 2019: Benefitting The Future Coalition. #linwoodboomer pic.twitter.com/6cYOoUGPWZ
— Linwood Boomer Page (@BoomerPage) April 10, 2020
He also worked on “3rd Rock from the Sun”, a sitcom that aired on NBC, and tells the story of four aliens pretending to be humans, to study the titular planet.
During this time, he intended to create a show of his own but had many failed attempts producing pilots for shows such as “Nice Try” and “Family Business” which were never picked up. He then helped produce a US version of “Red Dwarf”, which followed a similar story to the original British comedy. Due to numerous difficulties with executives, the US version paled in comparison to the original, and was heavily criticized.
He also worked on the pilot of “Big” which was a show based on the film of the same name, but it wasn’t picked-up either.
Malcolm in the Middle
After many failures, Boomer eventually caught on when Fox accepted his pitch for the show “Malcolm in the Middle”, which essentially told his life story as a middle child in a lower-middle-class family. The show starred Frankie Muniz as the titular Malcolm, who has genius-level intelligence but is somewhat normal, taking special classes which led him to be bullied by his peers. Other cast members of the show included Jane Kaczmarek, Bryan Cranston and Christopher Masterson.
The show received quick success, with many critics praising its concept, realism, comedy, writing, and acting, so was very popular and a big draw for the Network, running for seven seasons and is considered a television classic. For his work, he won a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series, and appeared as a guest in one of the later seasons of the show. Since the end of the show, he’s continued producing and working as a writer. He pitched a show “The Karenskys” for CBS, but which wasn’t picked up.
He also made a guest appearance in the show “Santa Clarita Diet”, his first acting appearance in eight years.
Personal Life
Linwood married producer Tracy Katsky who is known for her work in “Mr. Show with Bob and David”, “Lucky Louie” and “Help Me Help You”. They have four children together, and reside in Los Angeles, California. He enjoys working mainly behind the scenes, preferring a quieter and private life compared to being an actor. He still works on many productions, but doesn’t put a lot of personal information on display. There are numerous fan pages of him, but he doesn’t have any public online page of his own.