Richard M. Powell

Richard M. Powell (December 15, 1916 – October 20, 1996) was an American screenwriter. Born in Cincinnati, Ohio, he attended the University of Cincinnati where he began writing. He tried law school but did not feel it was a good match. He served in World War II in the Army Entertainment Corps. He married a dancer, Libby Burke, whose death in childbirth was very hard on him. Later he married Alice Shragowitz, an activist and intellectual originally from Minneapolis. Both he and Alice were transplants from the Midwest to Los Angeles arriving in California after World War II. Richard Powell was a prolific writer, writing scripts for a number of episodes of popular television series as well as for feature-length films. He was president of the Television Writers branch of the Writers Guild during the 1950s and continued to be extremely active in the Guild until his death. He was blacklisted during the 1950s and ’60s (why?) and was unable to work under his own name for more than ten years, causing him to rely on other writers who were his friends to put their names on his work. His credits included Quincy, The Mary Tyler Moore Show, M*A*S*H, Charlie's Angels, The Andy Griffith Show, The Courtship of Eddie's Father, All That Glitters, and many other