The following is the obituary which appeared in the New York Times, May 1, 1998, written by Lawrence Van Gelder:
Leslie Stevens, a writer, director and producer who achieved success on Broadway, in Hollywood and on television with plays like ''The Marriage-Go-Round,'' films like ''The Left-Handed Gun'' and television series like ''The Outer Limits,'' died on April 24 in Los Angeles. He was 74.
The cause was complications of emergency angioplasty, The Associated Press reported.
''There is nothing wrong with being a hack writer,'' Mr. Stevens told Time magazine in 1959 when he commanded $9,000 a week at the age of 35. ''I would point with pride to the inspired hacking of Shakespeare, Michelangelo -- you can go through a big list.''
Mr. Stevens first made his mark Off Broadway in 1953 with ''Bullfight,'' and after several other productions he succeeded on Broadway with the 1958 comedy ''The Marriage-Go-Round.'' That same year, he went to Hollywood and wrote, co-produced and directed his first film, ''Private Property.'' This inspection of a Don Juan who plots the seduction of a well-to-do housewife was a success that brought Mr. Stevens to 20th Century Fox to adapt ''The Marriage-Go-Round'' (1960).
Mr. Stevens's other credits as a screenwriter included ''The Left-Handed Gun'' (1958).
According to ''The Film Encyclopedia'' by Ephraim Katz, Mr. Stevens also held the distinction of being the director and screenwriter of ''Incubus'' (1966), an occult film that may be the only movie with dialogue in Esperanto.
Mr. Stevens wrote frequently for television and created, produced or directed series like ''Stoney Burke,'' ''The Outer Limits'' and ''McCloud.''
Leslie Stevens, who was born in Washington on Feb. 3, 1924, was the son of a Navy vice admiral, Leslie C. Stevens. When the admiral was attached to the United States Embassy in London, his 11-year-old son attended performances of Shakespeare at the Old Vic as part of his schoolwork.
''I decided one afternoon that I was a playwright,'' Mr. Stevens said. ''My first plays were such that sensible friends advised me to take up some other line of work.''
In 1939, when his father was reassigned to Washington, Leslie won a playwriting contest and ran off with Orson Welles's Mercury Theater group, which had accepted one of his plays. Truant officers brought the boy back.
Mr. Stevens joined the Air Corps at 18 and served as an officer. After World War II, he studied at the Yale Drama School and the American Theater Wing.
''As a playwright, I achieved the rank of night clerk in a hotel at 22, night ward attendant in a New York psychiatric hospital at 25 and the exalted status of copy boy for Time magazine at 28,'' he recalled. ''These jobs paid my room rent while I was writing plays.'' It was while Mr. Stevens was a copy boy that ''Bullfight'' opened and became a hit.
In 1958, Mr. Stevens married the actress Kate Manx, who starred in ''Private Property.'' They had a son, Leslie Stevens 5th, in 1962. After the marriage ended, Ms. Manx committed suicide."
See IMDB for additional information and a comprehensive list of his work as a writer and producer. See also Wikipedia.
Leslie Stevens, a writer, director and producer who achieved success on Broadway, in Hollywood and on television with plays like ''The Marriage-Go-Round,'' films like ''The Left-Handed Gun'' and television series like ''The Outer Limits,'' died on April 24 in Los Angeles. He was 74.
The cause was complications of emergency angioplasty, The Associated Press reported.
''There is nothing wrong with being a hack writer,'' Mr. Stevens told Time magazine in 1959 when he commanded $9,000 a week at the age of 35. ''I would point with pride to the inspired hacking of Shakespeare, Michelangelo -- you can go through a big list.''
Mr. Stevens first made his mark Off Broadway in 1953 with ''Bullfight,'' and after several other productions he succeeded on Broadway with the 1958 comedy ''The Marriage-Go-Round.'' That same year, he went to Hollywood and wrote, co-produced and directed his first film, ''Private Property.'' This inspection of a Don Juan who plots the seduction of a well-to-do housewife was a success that brought Mr. Stevens to 20th Century Fox to adapt ''The Marriage-Go-Round'' (1960).
Mr. Stevens's other credits as a screenwriter included ''The Left-Handed Gun'' (1958).
According to ''The Film Encyclopedia'' by Ephraim Katz, Mr. Stevens also held the distinction of being the director and screenwriter of ''Incubus'' (1966), an occult film that may be the only movie with dialogue in Esperanto.
Mr. Stevens wrote frequently for television and created, produced or directed series like ''Stoney Burke,'' ''The Outer Limits'' and ''McCloud.''
Leslie Stevens, who was born in Washington on Feb. 3, 1924, was the son of a Navy vice admiral, Leslie C. Stevens. When the admiral was attached to the United States Embassy in London, his 11-year-old son attended performances of Shakespeare at the Old Vic as part of his schoolwork.
''I decided one afternoon that I was a playwright,'' Mr. Stevens said. ''My first plays were such that sensible friends advised me to take up some other line of work.''
In 1939, when his father was reassigned to Washington, Leslie won a playwriting contest and ran off with Orson Welles's Mercury Theater group, which had accepted one of his plays. Truant officers brought the boy back.
Mr. Stevens joined the Air Corps at 18 and served as an officer. After World War II, he studied at the Yale Drama School and the American Theater Wing.
''As a playwright, I achieved the rank of night clerk in a hotel at 22, night ward attendant in a New York psychiatric hospital at 25 and the exalted status of copy boy for Time magazine at 28,'' he recalled. ''These jobs paid my room rent while I was writing plays.'' It was while Mr. Stevens was a copy boy that ''Bullfight'' opened and became a hit.
In 1958, Mr. Stevens married the actress Kate Manx, who starred in ''Private Property.'' They had a son, Leslie Stevens 5th, in 1962. After the marriage ended, Ms. Manx committed suicide."
See IMDB for additional information and a comprehensive list of his work as a writer and producer. See also Wikipedia.
The following is the obituary which appeared in the New York Times, May 1, 1998, written by Lawrence Van Gelder:
Leslie Stevens, a writer, director and producer who achieved success on Broadway, in Hollywood and on television with plays like ''The Marriage-Go-Round,'' films like ''The Left-Handed Gun'' and television series like ''The Outer Limits,'' died on April 24 in Los Angeles. He was 74.
The cause was complications of emergency angioplasty, The Associated Press reported.
''There is nothing wrong with being a hack writer,'' Mr. Stevens told Time magazine in 1959 when he commanded $9,000 a week at the age of 35. ''I would point with pride to the inspired hacking of Shakespeare, Michelangelo -- you can go through a big list.''
Mr. Stevens first made his mark Off Broadway in 1953 with ''Bullfight,'' and after several other productions he succeeded on Broadway with the 1958 comedy ''The Marriage-Go-Round.'' That same year, he went to Hollywood and wrote, co-produced and directed his first film, ''Private Property.'' This inspection of a Don Juan who plots the seduction of a well-to-do housewife was a success that brought Mr. Stevens to 20th Century Fox to adapt ''The Marriage-Go-Round'' (1960).
Mr. Stevens's other credits as a screenwriter included ''The Left-Handed Gun'' (1958).
According to ''The Film Encyclopedia'' by Ephraim Katz, Mr. Stevens also held the distinction of being the director and screenwriter of ''Incubus'' (1966), an occult film that may be the only movie with dialogue in Esperanto.
Mr. Stevens wrote frequently for television and created, produced or directed series like ''Stoney Burke,'' ''The Outer Limits'' and ''McCloud.''
Leslie Stevens, who was born in Washington on Feb. 3, 1924, was the son of a Navy vice admiral, Leslie C. Stevens. When the admiral was attached to the United States Embassy in London, his 11-year-old son attended performances of Shakespeare at the Old Vic as part of his schoolwork.
''I decided one afternoon that I was a playwright,'' Mr. Stevens said. ''My first plays were such that sensible friends advised me to take up some other line of work.''
In 1939, when his father was reassigned to Washington, Leslie won a playwriting contest and ran off with Orson Welles's Mercury Theater group, which had accepted one of his plays. Truant officers brought the boy back.
Mr. Stevens joined the Air Corps at 18 and served as an officer. After World War II, he studied at the Yale Drama School and the American Theater Wing.
''As a playwright, I achieved the rank of night clerk in a hotel at 22, night ward attendant in a New York psychiatric hospital at 25 and the exalted status of copy boy for Time magazine at 28,'' he recalled. ''These jobs paid my room rent while I was writing plays.'' It was while Mr. Stevens was a copy boy that ''Bullfight'' opened and became a hit.
In 1958, Mr. Stevens married the actress Kate Manx, who starred in ''Private Property.'' They had a son, Leslie Stevens 5th, in 1962. After the marriage ended, Ms. Manx committed suicide."
See IMDB for additional information and a comprehensive list of his work as a writer and producer. See also Wikipedia.
Leslie Stevens, a writer, director and producer who achieved success on Broadway, in Hollywood and on television with plays like ''The Marriage-Go-Round,'' films like ''The Left-Handed Gun'' and television series like ''The Outer Limits,'' died on April 24 in Los Angeles. He was 74.
The cause was complications of emergency angioplasty, The Associated Press reported.
''There is nothing wrong with being a hack writer,'' Mr. Stevens told Time magazine in 1959 when he commanded $9,000 a week at the age of 35. ''I would point with pride to the inspired hacking of Shakespeare, Michelangelo -- you can go through a big list.''
Mr. Stevens first made his mark Off Broadway in 1953 with ''Bullfight,'' and after several other productions he succeeded on Broadway with the 1958 comedy ''The Marriage-Go-Round.'' That same year, he went to Hollywood and wrote, co-produced and directed his first film, ''Private Property.'' This inspection of a Don Juan who plots the seduction of a well-to-do housewife was a success that brought Mr. Stevens to 20th Century Fox to adapt ''The Marriage-Go-Round'' (1960).
Mr. Stevens's other credits as a screenwriter included ''The Left-Handed Gun'' (1958).
According to ''The Film Encyclopedia'' by Ephraim Katz, Mr. Stevens also held the distinction of being the director and screenwriter of ''Incubus'' (1966), an occult film that may be the only movie with dialogue in Esperanto.
Mr. Stevens wrote frequently for television and created, produced or directed series like ''Stoney Burke,'' ''The Outer Limits'' and ''McCloud.''
Leslie Stevens, who was born in Washington on Feb. 3, 1924, was the son of a Navy vice admiral, Leslie C. Stevens. When the admiral was attached to the United States Embassy in London, his 11-year-old son attended performances of Shakespeare at the Old Vic as part of his schoolwork.
''I decided one afternoon that I was a playwright,'' Mr. Stevens said. ''My first plays were such that sensible friends advised me to take up some other line of work.''
In 1939, when his father was reassigned to Washington, Leslie won a playwriting contest and ran off with Orson Welles's Mercury Theater group, which had accepted one of his plays. Truant officers brought the boy back.
Mr. Stevens joined the Air Corps at 18 and served as an officer. After World War II, he studied at the Yale Drama School and the American Theater Wing.
''As a playwright, I achieved the rank of night clerk in a hotel at 22, night ward attendant in a New York psychiatric hospital at 25 and the exalted status of copy boy for Time magazine at 28,'' he recalled. ''These jobs paid my room rent while I was writing plays.'' It was while Mr. Stevens was a copy boy that ''Bullfight'' opened and became a hit.
In 1958, Mr. Stevens married the actress Kate Manx, who starred in ''Private Property.'' They had a son, Leslie Stevens 5th, in 1962. After the marriage ended, Ms. Manx committed suicide."
See IMDB for additional information and a comprehensive list of his work as a writer and producer. See also Wikipedia.
Bio by: Kenneth McNeil
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