Henry Slesar

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Henry Slesar (June 12, 1927 - April 2, 2002) was an American author, playwright and copywriter. He was also known as O. H. Leslie, Jay Street.

He was born as Henry Schlosser in Brooklyn, New York City. His parents were Jewish immigrants from Russia and Germany.

After graduating from high school, he started his career as a copywriter. Around 1955, he started to write short stories. While working as a copywriter, he published hundreds of short stories, including detective stories, science fiction, criminal stories, mysteries and thrillers on Playboy, Imaginative Tales and Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine. Alfred Hitchcock highly appreciated Slesar's talent and hired him to a number of the scenarios for Alfred Hitchcock Presents.

From 1957 to 1962, he wrote the Ruby Martinson series. The Gray Flannel Shroud (1958), his first long novel, was awarded Edgar Allan Poe Award in 1960.

In 1974, he was awarded Emmy as the head writer of a TV series The Edge of Night (1956-1984). His headwriting term was considered lengthy in terms of headwriting. During that time, he was also a headwriter for the Procter and Gamble soap operas Somerset and Search for Tomorrow. During the 1974-75 television, he was the creator and headwriter for Executive Suite, a CBS primetime serial.

In 1984, Procter and Gamble wanted to replace him as the headwriter of The Edge of Night, but the ABC network wanted to keep him. After his replacement as headwriter by Lee Sheldon, the network named him (with Sam Hall) as the new co-headwriter of its soap opera One Life to Live. He left that show after one year, and was later the headwriter of the CBS afternoon serial Capitol.

In 1977, he was awarded Edgar Award again.

In 2002, he died of the complication from an operation.