Henry Slesar
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| Henry Slesar | |
|---|---|
| Born | June 12, 1927 Brooklyn, New York, USA |
| Died | April 2, 2002 (aged 74) New York City, New York, USA |
| Pen name | O. H. Leslie Jay Street |
| Nationality | American |
| Genres | Detective fiction Science fiction Mysteries Thrillers |
Henry Slesar (June 12, 1927 - April 2, 2002) was an American author, playwright and copywriter. He was also known as O. H. Leslie and Jay Street.
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[edit] Early life
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.
[edit] Career
Around 1955, he started to write short stories. While working as a copywriter, he published hundreds of short stories, including detective fiction, science fiction, criminal stories, mysteries and thrillers on Playboy, Imaginative Tales and Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine. Alfred Hitchcock hired him to write a number of the scenarios for Alfred Hitchcock Presents.
From 1957 to 1962, he wrote the Ruby Martinson series, and later worked on Rod Serling's Twilight Zone series. The Gray Flannel Shroud (1958), his first novel, was awarded Edgar Allan Poe Award in 1960. He penned the screenplay for the 1965 film Two on a Guillotine, which was based on one of his stories. His short story "Examination Day" was used in the New Twilight Zone series .
In 1974, he won an Emmy as the head writer of a TV series The Edge of Night (1956-1984). His term as head writer was considered lengthy in terms of head writers. During that time, he was also a head writer for the Procter and Gamble soap operas Somerset and Search for Tomorrow. During the 1974-75 television, he was the creator and head writer for Executive Suite, a CBS primetime serial.
In 1983, Procter and Gamble wanted to replace him as the head writer 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-head writer of its soap opera One Life to Live. He left that show after one year, and was later the head writer of the CBS afternoon serial Capitol.
In 1977, he was awarded the Edgar Award again.
[edit] Death
In 2002, he died of complications from an operation.
