Woody Allen Collaborator Mickey Rose Dies

Screenwriter Mickey Rose, a childhood friend of Woody Allen's who later collaborated with him on the screenplays for Take the Money and Run and Bananas, has died. He was 77.

Rose died at his home in Beverly Hills, Calif., Sunday after battling cancer, the Los Angeles Times reports.

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Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., Rose got his bachelor's degree in film from New York University. He began writing screenplays in the 1960s and moved to California in 1970, where he began a career in writing for television. His credits included The Odd Couple, All in the Family and The Tonight Show. He unofficially retired from comedy writing in the mid-1980s, the Times reports.

"Mickey was one of the funniest humans I know, a true original and a total eccentric and a wonderful first baseman," Allen said in a statement, as reported by the Times. "We played a lot of baseball together. Once, when I asked him what death meant to him he said, 'no more malteds.' "

Allen also set Rose up on a blind date with his future wife, Judy Wolf. She and Rose had been married for 40 years when she passed away in 2003.

Rose is survived by a daughter, a son and two grandchildren, according to the Times.