Norman Blackburn; Producer and Advertising Executive

Norman Blackburn, 86, a writer, producer and advertising agency executive who began his Hollywood career with the old Hal Roach and Disney studios and moved through radio into films and television. Blackburn, whose work in the entertainment industry spanned more than 50 years, was a one-time national program director for NBC television in New York and vice president of the Hollywood office of the J. Walter Thompson advertising agency. He was involved in such classic motion pictures as “Pennies From Heaven,” “A Day at the Races” and Roach’s Our Gang comedies. He helped create the “Dinah Shore Show” and “You Bet Your Life” with Groucho Marx on TV. On Wednesday in North Hollywood of complications following hip surgery.