Henry Slesar - Biography

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.

Early life

He was born Henry Schlosser in Brooklyn, New York City. His parents were Jewish immigrants from Ukraine, and he had two sisters named Doris and Lillian. After graduating from high school, he started his career as a copywriter.

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 in such publications as Playboy, Imaginative Tales, and Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine. Alfred Hitchcock hired him to write a number of the scenarios for Alfred Hitchcock Presents.

The term "coffee break" was coined by Slesar. He was also the person behind McGraw-Hill's massively popular "The Man in the Chair" advertising campaign.

From 1957 to 1962, he wrote the Ruby Martinson series and later worked on Rod Serling's Twilight Zone series. In 1960 for his first novel, The Gray Flannel Shroud (1958), he was given the Edgar Allan Poe Award. He also 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 1980s Twilight Zone revival.

In 1974, he won an Emmy Award as the head writer for CBS Daytime's The Edge of Night. His term as head writer (1956-84) was considered lengthy. During that time, he was also head writer for the Procter and Gamble soap operas Somerset (on NBC Daytime) and Search for Tomorrow until John William Corrington replaced him on the latter. During the 1974-75 television season, he was the creator and head writer for Executive Suite, a CBS primetime series. He wrote mainly science-fiction scripts for the CBS Radio Mystery Theater during the 1970s.

In 1983, Procter and Gamble wanted to replace him as the head writer for The Edge of Night, but the ABC/ABC Daytime kept him. After his eventual replacement as head writer by Lee Sheldon, the network named him and Sam Hall the new head writers of its soap opera One Life to Live, but he left that show after only one year. He was later the head writer of the CBS Daytime series Capitol.

Awards/Nominations

In 1960, he was awarded the Edgar Award.

Death

In 2002, he died of complications from an operation.

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External links

• WhoDunnit