Glen A. Larson

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Glen A. Larson bigraphy, stories - American TV producer and writer

Glen A. Larson : biography

January 3, 1937 –

Glen Albert Larson (born January 3, 1937 in Long Beach, California) is an American television producer and writer best known as the creator of the television series Battlestar Galactica, Quincy, M.E., B. J. and the Bear, The Fall Guy, Magnum, P.I. and Knight Rider.

Career

Larson began his career in the entertainment industry in 1956 as a member of the vocal group The Four Preps, with whom he appeared in one of the Gidget films. The Four Preps ultimately produced three gold records for Capitol, all of which Larson himself wrote and/or composed: "26 Miles (Santa Catalina)", "Big Man", and "Down By The Station." A later member of the Four Preps, David Somerville, and a session singer he knew, Gail Jensen, later collaborated with Larson to write and compose "The Unknown Stuntman," the theme from The Fall Guy; series lead Lee Majors performed this song over the opening titles.

After working for Quinn Martin Sr. on productions including The Fugitive, Larson signed a production deal with Universal Studios. His first hit series was Alias Smith and Jones, a Western which described the activities of Hannibal Heyes and Jedediah "Kid" Curry, concentrating on their efforts to go straight. (George Roy Hill’s film, scripted by William Goldman, about Butch Cassidy and the "Sundance Kid" is commonly believed to have been the inspiration for the series.)

Larson was involved in the development for television of The Six Million Dollar Man, based on Martin Caidin’s novel Cyborg, into the successful series, and was one of the program’s early executive producers.

Larson later secured a then-unprecedented $1 million per episode budget for Battlestar Galactica. Originally, the series was intended to be called Adama’s Ark, and the show incorporated many themes from Mormon theology, such as marriage for "time and eternity" and a "council of twelve." Larson, a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in real life,"LDS Scene," Ensign, August 1979, 80. In 1979, Larson received an award from the Associated Latter-day Media Artists.Mormon Expression, Episode 135: Battlestar Galactica and Mormon Theology had been working on the concept since 1968, and Gene L. Coon had been providing guidance and mentoring to him through the writing of its earliest incarnations. Larson is credited with coining the word "battlestar," a contraction of the phrase "line-of-battle starship", after being convinced to rename Adama’s Ark to include the word "star" in the title in some way, in order to capitalize on the popularity of the then recently-released mega-hit, Star Wars. He is also credited with creating the faux curse word "frak."

Even with its generous budget, the series often recycled effects shots; it was canceled after one season. The pilot episode of Galactica, entitled "Saga of a Star World" in the program continuity, was edited into a two-hour theatrical release in North America and Europe (a second theatrical release, titled Mission Galactica: The Cylon Attack, was compiled by re-editing other episodes of the series). After the series was canceled, Larson went on to create a relatively low-budget sequel to the series, titled Galactica 1980, which was set many years later, when the Galactica had reached Earth. This series was less successful than the original and was canceled after 10 episodes.

Larson re-used some of the sets, props, costumes, and effects work from Galactica for the light-hearted sci-fi series Buck Rogers in the 25th Century in 1979. Based on the famous comic-book character created in 1928 by Philip Francis Nowlan, Larson co-developed the series with Leslie Stevens. The feature-length pilot episode was released as a theatrical film in March 1979 and grossed $21 million at the North American box office.http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=buckrogersinthe25thcentury.htm The weekly television series began in September 1979, running for two seasons until April 1981.