Don Ingalls obit

Star Trek Screenwriter Don Ingalls Has Died 

He was not on the list.

Ingalls was a screenwriter and television producer. He was a lifelong friend of Gene Roddenberry, having served in the Los Angeles Police Department with him.

Don Ingalls was born in Humboldt, Nebraska on July 29, 1918. During the Second World War, Ingalls was in the United States Army Air Forces as a pilot. He was stationed in Europe, flying Boeing B-17 Flying Fortresses. Following the war, he subsequently became a test pilot for North American Aviation.

Ingalls became a police officer and worked under Chief William H. Parker in the Los Angeles Police Department within the Public Information department. It was in the police that he met lifelong friend Gene Roddenberry for the first time, and both of them transitioned from the Newspaper Unit within the Traffic Department to the new section when Parker was made chief. The pair shared a common background, both of them having been B-17 pilots during the war. During this time, they worked from a single office on the 27th floor of the Los Angeles City Hall. The duo shared a desire to become writers, with Ingalls being the first between them to resign from the LAPD to pursue this objective

Roddenberry and Ingalls drifted apart following the latter's resignation, but reunited early on in their writing careers. Roddenberry was initially the more successful of the two, and recommended Ingalls as story editor to Sam Rolfe on the television series Have Gun – Will Travel. He would also continue to recommend Ingalls for other screenwriting jobs around the same time, while Ingalls went on to become an associate producer at Have Gun – Will Travel. When Roddenberry began to develop Star Trek, he sent Ingalls a series outline but asked him to keep it "very, very confidential".

Ingalls went on to write two scripts for Star Trek, his first being "The Alternative Factor". His second script, "A Private Little War", was intended to be a criticism piece on the Vietnam War, but was heavily re-written by Roddenberry to the extent that Ingalls was angry at him for a year and insisted on being credited only under the pseudonym "Jud Crucis".

He wrote episodes for a variety of television series, and was a producer on shows such as Fantasy Island, T.J. Hooker and Kingston: Confidential. Ingalls also wrote a handful of television movies such as the 1979 Captain America film. He has a single theatrical film credit, Airport 1975 (1974). His final work was the novel, Watchers on the Mountain (2005) a fictional work about the Navajo Nation.

He died in 2014 after a long illness at his home in Olympia, Washington.

 

Filmography

Films

 

Year     Film            Credit            Notes

1970    Dial Hot Line            Story By            Television Movie, Co-Wrote story with "Carol Sobieski"

1972    The Bull of the West            Screenplay By            Television Movie, Co-wrote screenplay with "Richard Fielder"

1974    Airport 1975            Screenplay By Based on the novel "Airport" By "Arthur Hailey"

1975    A Matter of Wife... and Death   Written By            Television Movie

1976    Flood!            Written By            Television Movie

1978    The Initiation of Sarah            Screenplay By            Television Movie, Co-Wrote screenplay with "Carol Saraceno" and "Kenette Gfeller"

1979    Captain America            Written By            Television Movie

Television

Year     TV Series   Credit            Notes

1957-58            Harbor Command            Writer            3 episodes

1958-63            Have Gun – Will Travel   Writer, producer, Story Editor, Script Editor, Associate Producer            Multiple Episodes

1959            Tombstone Territory            Writer            1 Episode

Bat Masterson            Writer            1 Episode

1960    Tate            Writer            1 Episode

Danger Man            Writer            1 Episode

Michael Shayne            Writer            1 Episode

Zane Grey Theater Writer            1 Episode

1961            Whiplash         Writer            4 episodes

1961-72            Bonanza          Writer            4 episodes

1962            Shannon          Writer            6 Episode

1963-64            The Travels of Jaimie McPheeters            Writer, producer, Associate Producer         

1963-69            The Virginian            Writer, producer         

1965    Daniel Boone  Writer            1 Episode

1965-66            Honey West    Writer, Associate Producer         

1966    12 O'Clock High            Associate Producer            11 episodes

1966-69            The Big Valley   Writer            5 episodes

1967            Gunsmoke      Writer            2 episodes

The Road West            Writer            1 Episode

1967-68            Star Trek: The Original Series            Writer            2 episodes

1968            Cowboy in Africa            Writer            1 Episode

1969-70            Then Came Bronson            Writer            2 episodes

1970    Adam-12        Writer            1 Episode

Matt Lincoln            Writer            1 Episode

Marcus Welby, M.D.    Writer            2 episodes

The Silent Force   Writer            1 Episode

1971    The Bold Ones: The New Doctors            Writer            1 Episode

1971-72            The Mod Squad            Writer            2 episodes

1972    The Sixth Sense            Writer, Executive Story Consultant, Creative Consultant       

1973    The Snoop Sisters            Writer            1 Episode

1973-75            Police Story    Writer            4 episodes

1974    Doc Elliot     Writer            1 Episode

Born Free            Writer            1 Episode

1976    Serpico            Producer            Unknown Episodes

1977            Kingston: Confidential            Writer, producer         

1979    A Man Called Sloane            Writer            1 Episode

1979-84            Fantasy Island   Writer, director, producer, Executive Story Consultant       

1985-86            T.J. Hooker            Writer, producer