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Robert Klane, who wrote the screenplays for the irreverent comedy classics Weekend at Bernie’s and Where’s Poppa? and directed the disco-era favorite Thank God It’s Friday, has died. He was 81.

Klane died Tuesday in his Woodland Hills home of kidney failure after a long illness, his son Jon Klane announced.

He wrote for the films Every Little Crook and Nanny (1972), Fire Sale (1977), The Man With One Red Shoe (1985), National Lampoon’s European Vacation (1985), Unfaithfully Yours (1984), Walk Like a Man (1987) and Folks! (1992).

Among his TV writing credits were six episodes of M*A*S*H* and The Odd Couple: Together Again, a 1973 reunion telefilm starring Jack Klugman and Tony Randall that he also directed. He also wrote and produced Tracey Takes On…, winning an Emmy for his work in 1997.

“Bob had a brilliant comedy mind that went deeper and deeper to get to the truth,” Rob Reiner, an actor in Where’s Poppa? (1970), said in a statement.

Robert Klane, screenwriter of films including “Weekend at Bernie’s” and “Where’s Poppa?,” died from kidney failure on Aug. 29 at his home in Woodland Hills, Calif. He was 81.

Klane’s son Jon shared the news with Variety in a statement, which reads, “Klane’s satirical and daring writing pushed the boundaries of good taste, while depicting the unfairness of life through themes of sex, family, madness and death.”

“Bob had a brilliant comedy mind that went deeper and deeper to get to the truth,” said filmmaker and actor Rob Reiner, who appeared in “Where’s Poppa?” “Most people have a censor in their minds and know how far they can go. Bob didn’t have a censor. That’s what made him great and set him apart. He was fearless.”

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