Frank and Doris Hursley

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Frank M. Hursley (November 21, 1902–February 3, 1989) and Doris Hursley (September 29, 1898–May 5, 1984) were a husband-and-wife team who wrote American soap operas and serials.

The couple were writers on the Western series Have Gun, Will Travel, but became famous in the soap world starting in 1957 when they began writing Search for Tomorrow. They continued to write Search for Tomorrow even after the show that they created, General Hospital had premiered. Another married couple of television writer, Theodore and Mathilde Ferro, wrote the show in its early months.

They created a medical drama, General Hospital, for the ABC network in 1963; it was the first serious effort by that network to create a daytime serial. Today, General Hospital is the longest-running daytime serial on ABC. The duo wrote the show until 1973, when they handed the reins to their daughter and son-in-law, Bridget and Jerome Dobson. In 1969 the Hursleys also created and wrote 'Bright Promise,' a soap on NBC that starred Dana Andrews as college president Tom Boswell. However, they soon left that series and it was eventually cancelled in 1972. The Hursleys retired from writing serials.

The Hursleys were natives of Thiensville, Wisconsin. Their daughter Bridget also became a television writer, creating Santa Barbara.