Dean Riesner
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Dean Riesner (November 3, 1918-August 18, 2002) was a prolific American film and television writer.
Born in New York, Riesner's father was a silent film director and Dean began acting onscreen at the age of five. His career at this young age ended because apparently his mother wanted her son to have a real childhood. Upon maturing into an adult Riesner again entered the entertainment industry, this time as a writer. His first job was as a co-author for the 1939 Ronald Reagan film Code of the Secret Service.
Throughout the 1950's and 60's Riesner worked primarily in television, including writing for Rawhide (TV series). In 1968 he landed a job working on the Clint Eastwood action film Coogan's Bluff, and this in turn would lead to him writing several other Eastwood features throughout the 70's. Riesner helped pen the screenplays for two Eastwood films in 1971, Play Misty for Me and the original Dirty Harry. In 1973 he provided an uncredited rewrite for High Plains Drifter, and in 1976 he was one of the writers to draft The Enforcer, the third Dirty Harry thriller. That same year he provided the teleplay for NBC's highly rated miniseries Rich Man, Poor Man, starring Nick Nolte. In 1979 he wrote an early draft screenplay for The Godfather Part III, but his script was discarded when Francis Ford Coppola and Mario Puzo finally agreed to collaborate on a third entry in the series.
Riesner continued to write into the 80's, though most of his work from this time period went uncredited. Those films include Das Boot, The Sting II, and Starman (film).
Riesner died in 2002 in Encino, California from natural causes.
