Roy Huggins
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Roy Huggins (July 18, 1914 – April 3, 2002) was a novelist and an influential writer and producer of humorous, character-driven US television series. Shows he was involved in typically featured misfits and rascals rather than conventional heroes.
Huggins' novels include The Double Take (1946), Too Late For Tears (1947) and Lovely Lady, Pity Me (1949).
He is best known as the creator of long-running shows such as Maverick, 77 Sunset Strip, The Fugitive and The Rockford Files.
He also produced Alias Smith and Jones and Baretta and, after being lured out of retirement by protege Stephen J. Cannell, served for three years as the executive producer of Hunter.
Cannell said of Huggins' time on Hunter: "Roy was in the driver's seat where he belonged. Nobody does it better or with more style...Roy Huggins is my Godfather, my Hero and my Friend. They don't come any better."
Huggins often wrote under the pseudonym John Thomas James, a composite of the names of his three sons from his second marriage.
A member of the Communist Party USA until the Nazi-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact of 1939, Huggins appeared before the House Un-American Activities Committee in 1952, where he named 19 former comrades who had already been named before the Committee.
Huggins was married to actress Adele Mara.
Huggins videotaped a lengthy interview for the Archive of American Television, currently available for viewing online.
