Norman Steinberg, a screenwriter, including the films “Blazing Saddles” and “My Favorite Year,” and the TV movie “Free to be…You and Me,” died on March 15. He was 83.

A lawyer, who began practicing in Manhattan, Mr. Steinberg disliked being a lawyer, his family said. He would stop for coffee at Chock Full o’ Nuts, where he met Mel Brooks. Brooks encouraged him to try writing a script for “Get Smart.” When Brooks told him the script was funny, Steinberg quit his job at the law firm the same day.

“I’m so glad I rescued him from a dull stable legal career,” Mel Brooks wrote on Twitter. He was one of the best writers I ever worked with.”