1922 - 2007
Television producer and noted thoroughbred horse owner Ed Friendly, who helped create the hits "Little House on the Prairie" and "Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In," has died. He was 85.

Friendly died Sunday at his home in Rancho Santa Fe following a year-long battle with cancer, according to Warren Cowan, a spokesman for the family announced Tuesday.

His Ed Friendly Productions, Inc., was founded in 1967 after he moved to California from New York. "Laugh-In," which Friendly co-created with George Schlatter, was a rambunctious sketch comedy show that ran from 1968 to 1973. It won several Emmys and popularized such catch phrases as "Sock it to me."

Friendly also helped produce "Little House," which ran from 1974-83 and was based on the book series by Laura Ingalls Wilder. Friendly credited his late wife, Natalie, with inspiring him to obtain the rights, Cowan said.

Friendly also produced TV movies, specials and miniseries. The 1979 miniseries, "Backstairs at the White House," was nominated for 11 Emmys, winning one for outstanding achievement in makeup.

Born in New York in April 1922, Friendly served as an infantry captain in World War II. He took jobs in advertising and then as a radio and later television director. He moved on to become director of sales for ABC, became a contract producer at CBS and eventually became NBC's vice president of special programs.

Friendly also was a noted thoroughbred owner. He bought his first racehorse with his friend, "Bonanza" star Lorne Greene, and once owned more than 60 horses.

They included Timeless Answer, winner of the Los Angeles Handicap in June 1990 and Vivid Angel, which won the 1997 Del Mar Debutante.

In 1993, Friendly founded and established Thoroughbred Owners of California, which represents 9,000 licensed owners. Friendly also was a founding member, director and vice-chair of the National Thoroughbred Association, which was the forerunner of the National Thoroughbred Racing Association.