Lee Erwin (September 12, 1906, in

Ada, Oklahoma Ada is a city in and the county seat of Pontotoc County, Oklahoma, Pontotoc County, Oklahoma, United States. The population was 16,481 at the 2020 United States Census. The city was named for Ada Reed, the daughter of an early settler, and was inc ...

- June 4, 1972 in

Los Angeles, California Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

) was a

television writer A screenplay writer (also called screenwriter, scriptwriter, scribe or scenarist) is a writer who practices the craft of screenwriting, writing screenplays on which mass media, such as films, television programs and video games, are based. ...

from the 1950s to the 1970s. Erwin wrote for '' Mr. & Mrs. North'', '' The Millionaire'', '' Have Gun, Will Travel'', ''

The New Adventures of Charlie Chan ''The New Adventures of Charlie Chan'' is a crime drama series that aired in the United States in syndicated television from June 1957, to 1958. The first five episodes were made by Vision Productions in the United States, before production sw ...

'' and many other 1950s and 1960s TV shows. He is probably best known for his ''

Star Trek ''Star Trek'' is an American science fiction media franchise created by Gene Roddenberry, which began with the eponymous 1960s television series and quickly became a worldwide pop-culture phenomenon. The franchise has expanded into vari ...

'' episode " Whom Gods Destroy",Michael Okuda and Denise Okuda, ''The Star Trek Encyclopedia'', Pocket Books, 1999, . his two-part ''

Tarzan Tarzan (John Clayton II, Viscount Greystoke) is a fictional character, an archetypal feral child raised in the African jungle by the Mangani great apes; he later experiences civilization, only to reject it and return to the wild as a heroic adv ...

'' episode "The Deadly Silence", and his episode of ''

The Lieutenant ''The Lieutenant'' is an American television series, the first created by Gene Roddenberry. It aired on NBC on Saturday evenings in the 1963–1964 television schedule. It was produced by Arena Productions, one of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer's most ...

'', "

To Set It Right "To Set It Right" is the 21st episode of the American military drama television series ''The Lieutenant'', produced for broadcast on NBC. Written by Lee Erwin, it featured a guest cast that included Dennis Hopper, Don Marshall, Woody Strode and th ...

", which was never aired because the subject matter, racial prejudice, was taboo for entertainment television at the time. This episode can be viewed at

The Paley Center for Media The Paley Center for Media, formerly the Museum of Television & Radio (MT&R) and the Museum of Broadcasting, founded in 1975 by William S. Paley, is an American cultural institution in New York with a branch office in Los Angeles, dedicated to ...

. His last work for television was the script for the ''

All in the Family ''All in the Family'' is an American television sitcom that aired on CBS for nine seasons, from January 12, 1971, to April 8, 1979. Afterwards, it was continued with the spin-off series ''Archie Bunker's Place'', which picked up where ''All in ...

'' episode "Writing the President" (1971).

Filmography

Films

Television

References

External links

* 1906 births 1972 deaths People from Ada, Oklahoma American television writers American male screenwriters American male television writers Screenwriters from Oklahoma 20th-century American male writers 20th-century American screenwriters {{US-tv-writer-stub