Robert H. Justman

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Robert Harris Justman

Born	July 13, 1926 New York, New York
Died	May 28, 2008 (aged 81) Los Angeles, California
Occupation	Television producer
Spouse	Jacqueline Justman
Children	Jennifer, Jonathan and William

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Robert Harris "Bob" Justman (July 13, 1926 – May 28, 2008) worked in Hollywood as a producer, director, production manager, assistant director, and production assistant since the early 1950s. He worked on many television series including Lassie, The Life of Riley, Adventures of Superman, The Outer Limits, Then Came Bronson, Mission: Impossible and many others.^[1]

Inside Star Trek: The Real Story, book cover

He was one of the pioneers behind Star Trek, working both as an associate and supervising producer on Star Trek: The Original Series and Star Trek: The Next Generation. He was also the assistant director of the first two Star Trek episodes: "The Cage" and "Where No Man Has Gone Before." During Star Trek: The Original Series, he served as Gene Roddenberry's right hand man, who managed the show along with John D. F. Black, Herbert Solow, D. C. Fontana and Gene L. Coon.

Justman served as Star Trek's co-producer during the first 14 episodes of its third season before resigning due to his displeasure at the show's decline in production and script quality as well as what he regarded as the show's poor treatment by NBC which had slashed its budget during the third season.^[2]

His film credits as an assistant director include The Big Combo (1955), Kiss Me Deadly (1955), The Big Knife (1955), Attack (1956) and Mutiny on the Bounty (1962) among others. He was in front of the camera once as an actor. Justman appeared as the "Elder of Luminos" in the "A Feasibility Study" episode in The Outer Limits. His name also graced a shuttlecraft on The Next Generation.^[3]

Along with Herbert F. Solow, he wrote Inside Star Trek: The Real Story, published by Pocket Books in 1996. According to Publishers Weekly, "As told by Solow, Star Trek's co-producer [sic], and Justman, the executive in charge of production [sic], this is arguably the definitive history of the TV show...With plenty of behind-the-scenes material that will be of interest to Trek fans, this book puts a good deal of emphasis on the show's business side, elucidating production difficulties, cost overruns and the seemingly constant debate with NBC over the show's future."