John Vlahos (December 26, 1917 – April 8, 2004) was, along with his contemporaries

Horton Foote Albert Horton Foote Jr. (March 14, 1916March 4, 2009) was an American playwright and screenwriter. He received Academy Awards for his screenplays for the 1962 film ''To Kill a Mockingbird'', which was adapted from the 1960 novel of the same name ...

Reginald Rose Reginald Rose (December 10, 1920 – April 19, 2002) was an American screenwriter. He wrote about controversial social and political issues. His realistic approach was particularly influential in the anthology programs of the 1950s. Rose w ...

, and

Rod Serling Rodman Edward Serling (December 25, 1924 – June 28, 1975) was an American screenwriter, playwright, television producer, and narrator/on-screen host, best known for his live television dramas of the 1950s and his anthology television series ' ...

, one of the leading screenwriters of the 1950s and 1960s, writing for such series as ''

The Philco Television Playhouse ''The Philco Television Playhouse'' is an American television anthology series that was broadcast live on NBC from 1948 to 1955. Produced by Fred Coe, the series was sponsored by Philco. It was one of the most respected dramatic shows of the Golde ...

'', ''Studio One'', ''

Robert Montgomery Presents ''Robert Montgomery Presents'' is an American dramatic television series which was produced by NBC from January 30, 1950, until June 24, 1957. The live show had several sponsors during its eight-year run, and the title was altered to feature the ...

'', ''

Goodyear Television Playhouse ''Goodyear Television Playhouse'' is an American anthology series that was telecast live on NBC from 1951 to 1957 during the first Golden Age of Television. Sponsored by Goodyear, Goodyear alternated sponsorship with Philco, and the ''Philco Tel ...

'', ''

The United States Steel Hour ''The United States Steel Hour'' is an anthology series which brought hour long dramas to television from 1953 to 1963. The television series and the radio program that preceded it were both sponsored by the U.S. Steel, United States Steel Corpor ...

'', ''

Climax! ''Climax!'' (later known as ''Climax Mystery Theater'') is an American television anthology series that aired on CBS from 1954 to 1958. The series was hosted by William Lundigan and later co-hosted by Mary Costa. It was one of the few CBS progra ...

'', ''

Playhouse 90 ''Playhouse 90'' was an American television anthology series, anthology drama series that aired on CBS from 1956 to 1960 for a total of 133 episodes. The show was produced at CBS Television City in Los Angeles, California. Since live anthology dr ...

'', ''

The Alcoa Hour ''The Alcoa Hour'' is an American anthology television series that was aired live on NBC from 1955 to 1957. The series was sponsored by Alcoa. Overview Like the ''Philco Television Playhouse'' and ''Goodyear Television Playhouse'' that had prec ...

'', Boris Karloff’s '' Thriller'', ''

Route 66 U.S. Route 66 or U.S. Highway 66 (US 66 or Route 66) was one of the original highways in the United States Numbered Highway System. It was established on November 11, 1926, with road signs erected the following year. The h ...

'', '' The Defenders'', '' The Nurses'', '' Doctor Kildare'', and ''

Marcus Welby, M.D. Marcus, Markus, Márkus or Mărcuș may refer to: * Marcus (name), a masculine given name * Marcus (praenomen), a Roman personal name Places * Marcus, a main belt asteroid, also known as (369088) Marcus 2008 GG44 * Mărcuş, a village in Dobârl ...

''. His credits include 17 film screenplays, 70 radio scripts, 52 network television live and film dramas, and more than 200 episodes for various daytime shows. Among the honors he received are the Sylvania Award in 1958 (for ''Beaver Patrol'', a comedy for the U.S. Steel Hour) and an

Emmy Award The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the calendar year, each with the ...

in 1962 (for ''Killer Instinct,'' an episode of ''The Defenders''). He also received an Ohio State Radio-TV Award for Best Documentary, a Freedom Foundation Award for Best Historic Family Series, an Institution for Education Award for Distinguished Radio Writing, and the 1959

Ford Foundation The Ford Foundation is an American private foundation with the stated goal of advancing human welfare. Created in 1936 by Edsel Ford and his father Henry Ford, it was originally funded by a US$25,000 gift from Edsel Ford. By 1947, after the death ...

Award for playwriting. In 1941, he moved to the West Coast and wrote for a series of ''

Range Busters ''The Range Busters'' was a 1940–1943 American Western film series of 24 films. They were about the adventures of a trio of cowboys, many filmed at the Corriganville Movie Ranch, produced by George W. Weeks and distributed by Monogram Picture ...

'' westerns for

Monogram Pictures Monogram Pictures Corporation was an American film studio that produced mostly low-budget films between 1931 and 1953, when the firm completed a transition to the name Allied Artists Pictures Corporation. Monogram was among the smaller studios i ...

. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, he served in the Navy in the South Pacific. After World War II, he spent seven years with the

Armed Forces Radio Service The American Forces Network (AFN) is a government television and radio broadcast service the U.S. military provides to those stationed or assigned overseas. Headquartered at Fort George G. Meade, Maryland, AFN's broadcast operations, which i ...

. He turned his hand to television in 1952, when

Hal Peary Harold "Hal" Peary (July 25, 1908 – March 30, 1985) was an American actor, comedian and singer in radio, films, television, and animation. His most memorable role is as Throckmorton P. Gildersleeve, which began as a supporting character on r ...

, best known for his role as

the Great Gildersleeve ''The Great Gildersleeve'' is a radio situation comedy broadcast in the United States from August 31, 1941 to 1958. Initially written by Leonard Lewis Levinson, it was one of broadcast history's earliest spin-off programs. The series was built a ...

, commissioned him to write episodes of a planned series called ''Call Me Papa; or, Pigeon Point.'' After several years in Hollywood, Vlahos moved in 1958 to

Westport, Connecticut Westport is a town in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States, along the Long Island Sound within Connecticut's Gold Coast. It is northeast of New York City. The town had a population of 27,141 according to the 2020 U.S. Census. History ...

, where he lived the rest of his life.Dick Kleiner, "TV Scripter John Vlahos Moves East," ''Times Record'' (Troy), March 7, 1958, p. 10. Vlahos excelled especially in plays broadcast live. Among Vlahos’s early successes was ''A Business Proposition'' (1955), "a tender tale or two middle-aged people who attempt to establish a business despite tremendous odds," and ''A Bend in the Road'' (1957), which he described as being "about a Protestant minister’s search for his usefulness. He's an old man in a nation of youth and youth's success. What can he contribute. He goes through a spiritual evaluation of himself, to the world, to himself, and to his family." Other notable early works include ''Tongues of Angels'' (1958), a drama about a farmer who feigns muteness to hide his severe stutter, and ''Beaver Patrol'' (1958), a comedy about a retired New York businessman who assumes leadership of a

Cub Scout Cub Scouts, Cubs or Wolf Cubs are programs associated with Scouting for young children usually between 7 and 12, depending on the organization to which they belong. A participant in the program is called a Cub. A group of Cubs is called a 'P ...

pack. His

Cold War The Cold War is a term commonly used to refer to a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. The term '' cold war'' is used because the ...

drama, ''The Brandenberg Gate'', set in

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

, was produced for television three times in eight years—first for ''Motorola TV Hour'' with

Jack Palance Jack Palance ( ; born Volodymyr Palahniuk ( uk, Володимир Палагню́к); February 18, 1919 – November 10, 2006) was an American actor known for playing tough guys and villains. He was nominated for three Academy Awards, all fo ...

and

Maria Riva Maria Elisabeth Riva (née Sieber; born December 13, 1924) is a German-born American former actress. She worked on television at CBS in the 1950s, becoming one of the first stars of early kinescope-era television. She is the daughter of actress ...

(1953), then with ''Climax!'' (under the title ''The Largest City in Captivity'') with

Franchot Tone Stanislaus Pascal Franchot Tone (February 27, 1905 – September 18, 1968) was an American actor, producer, and director of stage, film and television. He was a leading man in the 1930s and early 1940s, and at the height of his career was known ...

and

Viveca Lindfors Elsa Viveca Torstensdotter Lindfors (December 29, 1920 – October 25, 1995) was a Swedish stage, film, and television actress. She won an Emmy Award and a Silver Bear for Best Actress. Biography Lindfors was born in Uppsala, Sweden, the da ...

(1957), and finally for the ''United States Steel Hour'' with

Richard Kiley Richard Paul Kiley (March 31, 1922 – March 5, 1999) was an American stage, film and television actor and singer. He is best known for his distinguished theatrical career in which he twice won the Tony Award for Best Actor In A Musical. Kiley ...

and

Dina Merrill Dina Merrill (born Nedenia Marjorie Hutton; December 29, 1923 – May 22, 2017) was an American actress, heiress, socialite, businesswoman, and philanthropist. Early life Merrill was born in New York City on December 29, 1923, but for man ...

(1961). Among other notable works were his script for the television film ''Silent Night, Lonely Night'' (1969), starring

Lloyd Bridges Lloyd Vernet Bridges Jr. (January 15, 1913 – March 10, 1998) was an American film, stage and television actor who starred in a number of television series and appeared in more than 150 feature films. He was the father of four children, includi ...

and

Shirley Jones Shirley Mae Jones (born March 31, 1934) is an American actress and singer. In her six decades in show business, she has starred as wholesome characters in a number of musical films, such as ''Oklahoma!'' (1955), ''Carousel'' (1956), and ''The M ...

, and '' Act of Reprisal'' (1964), a feature film on the

Cyprus dispute The Cyprus problem, also known as the Cyprus dispute, Cyprus issue, Cyprus question or Cyprus conflict, is an ongoing dispute between Greek Cypriots in the south and Turkish Cypriots in the north. Initially, with the Modern history of Cyprus#In ...

that starred a young Jeremy Brett. A 1991 review of a revival of the film noted "a certain lustiness and clarity in its storytelling." Vlahos’s play ''The Golden Age of Pericles Pappas'', for which he was awarded a fellowship from the

, was produced at the Tulsa Little Theater in 1959. His biopic on labor leader

Samuel Gompers Samuel Gompers (; January 27, 1850December 13, 1924) was a British-born American cigar maker, labor union leader and a key figure in American labor history. Gompers founded the American Federation of Labor (AFL) and served as the organization's ...

rooted his activism in the study of the

Talmud The Talmud (; he, , Talmūḏ) is the central text of Rabbinic Judaism and the primary source of Jewish religious law (''halakha'') and Jewish theology. Until the advent of modernity, in nearly all Jewish communities, the Talmud was the cente ...

. He also wrote a promotional film, ''The Big Decision'', for Wittenberg University, which awarded Vlahos an honorary doctorate in 1958, and he developed poetic liturgies performed at the Unitarian Church in Westport. Vlahos worked alongside the leading writers and producers of the early years of television. His agent, Lucy Kroll, also represented

. His co-writers for the ''United States Steel Hour'', included Foote,

Arnold Schulman Arnold Schulman (born August 11, 1925) is an American playwright, screenwriter, producer, a songwriter and novelist. He was a stage actor long associated with the American Theatre Wing and the Actors Studio. Biography Born to a Jewish family i ...

, Arthur Hailey,

Tad Mosel Tad Mosel (May 1, 1922 – August 24, 2008) was an American playwright and one of the leading dramatists of hour-long teleplay genre for live television during the 1950s. He received the 1961 Pulitzer Prize for Drama for his play '' All the Way H ...

, and

Ira Levin Ira Marvin Levin (August 27, 1929 – November 12, 2007) was an American novelist, playwright, and songwriter. His works include the novels ''A Kiss Before Dying (novel), A Kiss Before Dying'' (1953), ''Rosemary's Baby (novel), Rosemary's Baby'' ...

. He wrote episodes for the Emmy Award-winning courtroom series ''The Defenders'', created by

. Recalling his work with Rose, Vlahos noted, "In my case I get so involved with the people, I have practically no story. He’s always sending me back to put the story in."

Personal life

Born in

Springfield, Ohio Springfield is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Clark County, Ohio, Clark County. The municipality is located in southwestern Ohio and is situated on the Mad River (Ohio), Mad River, Buck Creek, and Beaver Creek, approxim ...

Greek Orthodox The term Greek Orthodox Church (Greek language, Greek: Ἑλληνορθόδοξη Ἐκκλησία, ''Ellinorthódoxi Ekklisía'', ) has two meanings. The broader meaning designates "the Eastern Orthodox Church, entire body of Orthodox (Chalced ...

parents, Vlahos worked in the family restaurant as a youth. He attended

Wittenberg University Wittenberg University is a private liberal arts college in Springfield, Ohio. It has 1,326 full-time students representing 33 states and 9 foreign countries. Wittenberg University is associated with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. ...

and

Carnegie Tech Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) is a private research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. One of its predecessors was established in 1900 by Andrew Carnegie as the Carnegie Technical Schools; it became the Carnegie Institute of Technology ...

(class of 1939), where he majored in drama. John Vlahos lived in

for 50 years with his wife Olivia Vlahos, a professor and bestselling author. They met in 1939 at the Old Wharf Theatre, in

Provincetown, Massachusetts Provincetown is a New England town located at the extreme tip of Cape Cod in Barnstable County, Massachusetts, in the United States. A small coastal resort town with a year-round population of 3,664 as of the 2020 United States Census, Provincet ...

, home of many independently produced plays and often continued its legacy of experiment in art. It was for a time the home base for the Community Theatre division of the

Federal Theatre Project The Federal Theatre Project (FTP; 1935–1939) was a theatre program established during the Great Depression in the United States, Great Depression as part of the New Deal to fund live artistic performances and entertainment programs in the United ...

(1936–39), used as a training center to send directors, actors, teachers and designers out to the five boroughs of New York City to create theatre projects. Olivia Vlahos, as a young actress toured Texas with the Interstate Players and went onto study at the University of Texas, Houston where she wrote and performed in shows for the

United Service Organizations The United Service Organizations Inc. (USO) is an American nonprofit-charitable corporation that provides live entertainment, such as comedians, actors and musicians, social facilities, and other programs to members of the United States Armed F ...

and, under the tutelage of American Anthropologist Gilbert McAllister, discovered her love of

anthropology Anthropology is the scientific study of humanity, concerned with human behavior, human biology, cultures, societies, and linguistics, in both the present and past, including past human species. Social anthropology studies patterns of behavi ...

. They had three children, Dr. Michael Vlahos, Melissa Vlahos and Stephanie Vlahos. An archive of John Vlahos's original teleplays and film scripts was sold by the

antiquarian An antiquarian or antiquary () is an fan (person), aficionado or student of antiquities or things of the past. More specifically, the term is used for those who study history with particular attention to ancient artifact (archaeology), artifac ...

bookseller Bookselling is the commercial trading of books which is the retail and distribution end of the publishing process. People who engage in bookselling are called booksellers, bookdealers, bookpeople, bookmen, or bookwomen. The founding of librari ...

, Carpe Librum.

Death

''"Thank you for making articulate our lives, thank you for making articulate our problems, thank you for revealing all to see our feelings."'' John Vlahos died on April 8, 2004, at home in

at the age of 87.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Vlahos, John 1917 births 2004 deaths American male screenwriters Carnegie Mellon University alumni Emmy Award winners 20th-century American male writers 20th-century American screenwriters United States Navy personnel of World War II