Later Life
Cerf was the subject of Jessica Mitford's exposé, published in the June 1970 issue of Atlantic Monthly, which denounced the business practices of the Famous Writers School, which Cerf had founded.
Cerf was portrayed in the film Infamous (2006) by Peter Bogdanovich. S.J. Perelman's feuilleton "No Dearth of Mirth, Fill Out the Coupon" describes Perelman's fictionalized encounter with a jokebook publisher named Barnaby Chirp, who is a caricature of Cerf. Another caricature of Cerf, named Harry Hubris and portrayed by Bert Lahr, appears in Perelman's 1962 play The Beauty Part. He was also referenced as the publisher "Bennett Blake" in an episode of The Patty Duke Show.
Cerf died in Mount Kisco, New York, on August 27, 1971, aged 73, survived by his wife and sons. In 1977 Random House published his autobiography, which he had titled At Random: The Reminiscences of Bennett Cerf.
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