# Don Ingalls > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Don_Ingalls > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Don_Ingalls.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don_Ingalls > Source revision: 1304517624 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) {{short description|American novelist}} {{for|the American football player|Donald Robert Ingalls}} {{Infobox person |name = Don Ingalls |image = |image_size = |caption = |alt = |birth_name = Donald George Ingalls |birth_date = {{birth date|1918|7|29}} |birth_place = [Humboldt, Nebraska](/source/Humboldt%2C_Nebraska), U.S. |death_date = {{Death date and age|2014|3|10|1918|7|29}} |death_place = [Olympia, Washington](/source/Olympia%2C_Washington), U.S. |death_cause = |occupation = Screenwriter and producer |known_for = ''[Star Trek](/source/Star_Trek%3A_The_Original_Series)'', ''[Fantasy Island](/source/Fantasy_Island_(1977_TV_series))'', ''[T.J. Hooker](/source/T.J._Hooker)'' }} '''Donald George Ingalls''' (July 29, 1918 – March 10, 2014) was an American screenwriter and television producer. During his 35-year career Ingalls wrote scripts for more than 70 episodes of network television, including ''[Adam-12](/source/Adam-12)'', ''[Bonanza](/source/Bonanza)'', ''[The Big Valley](/source/The_Big_Valley)'', ''[Fantasy Island](/source/Fantasy_Island)'', ''[Gunsmoke](/source/Gunsmoke)'', ''[Have Gun-Will Travel](/source/Have_Gun-Will_Travel)'', ''[Honey West](/source/Honey_West)'', ''[Marcus Welby M.D.](/source/Marcus_Welby_M.D.)'', ''[Police Story](/source/Police_Story_(1973_TV_series))'', ''[Serpico](/source/Serpico)'', ''[Star Trek](/source/Star_Trek)'', and ''[The Virginian](/source/The_Virginian_(TV_series))''.{{cite web|url=https://oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:%2F13030%2Fc8ms3w0x|title= Donald G. (Don) Ingalls Collection of Scripts, 1957-1992|publisher=Online Archive of California|access-date=August 1, 2025}} Ingalls also wrote the script for the movie ''[Airport 1975](/source/Airport_1975)''. He was a lifelong friend of [Gene Roddenberry](/source/Gene_Roddenberry), having served in the [Los Angeles Police Department](/source/Los_Angeles_Police_Department) with him. ==Early life and education== Ingalls was born in [Humboldt, Nebraska](/source/Humboldt%2C_Nebraska) on July 29, 1918, the third of Park Louis and Lulu Grace (née Morris) Ingalls' three children.{{sfn |Lentz, III| 2015| p=169}}{{cite news |title=Visitations of the Stork. |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/149226734/ |work=The Humboldt Standard |date=August 2, 1918|location=Humboldt, Nebraska |page=1 |access-date=August 1, 2025 |via=[Newspapers.com](/source/Newspapers.com)}}{{cite news |title=Births. |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/149226734 |work=Hiawatha Daily World |date=August 16, 1918|location=Hiawatha, Kansas |page=1 |access-date=August 1, 2025 |via=[Newspapers.com](/source/Newspapers.com)}}{{cite news |title=Donald Ingalls |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-olympian-don-ingalls-1918-2014/175592129/ |work=The Olympian |date=March 23, 2014 |location=Olympia, WA |page=A5 |access-date=June 30, 2025 |via=[Newspapers.com](/source/Newspapers.com)}} {{Open access}} Ingalls spent his childhood living in Stafford, Kansas. The family moved in the 1930s to [Los Angeles](/source/Los_Angeles), [California](/source/California). Ingalls attended [North Hollywood High School](/source/North_Hollywood_High_School), and was a reporter for the high school newspaper ''Blue & Gray''.{{cite web |url=https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/1265/records/53035425 |title=Blue & Gray|date= 1937|website=Ancestry.com |publisher=Ancestry|access-date=August 4, 2025}} ==Military service== Ingalls joined the [United States Army Air Forces](/source/United_States_Army_Air_Forces) on December 12, 1942 while working as an accountant at the [U.S. Civil Service Commission](/source/United_States_Civil_Service_Commission) in Washington, DC.{{cite web |url=https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/2238/records/6542697 |title=U.S., World War II Draft Cards Young Men, 1940-1947 for Donald George Ingalls|date= October 16, 1940|website=Ancestry.com |publisher=Ancestry|access-date=August 1, 2025}} Ingalls served during the [Second World War](/source/Second_World_War) in Europe as a pilot, flying [Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress](/source/Boeing_B-17_Flying_Fortress)es.{{sfn |Alexander| 1995| p=114}} Following the war, he became a test pilot for [North American Aviation](/source/North_American_Aviation).{{sfn |Lentz, III| 2015| p=169}} ==Early career== Ingalls became a police officer and worked under Chief [William H. Parker](/source/William_H._Parker_(police_officer)) in the [Los Angeles Police Department](/source/Los_Angeles_Police_Department) within the Public Information department. Ingalls said "It was a great job. I got to write a lot of different things. It was definitely an exciting field".{{cite web|url=https://californiafreemason.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/12/2019/05/Winter-2004-5.17MB.pdf|title=Past Grand Master Don Ingalls shares his life in film|date=2004|website=californiafreemason.org/|language=en-US|access-date=August 4, 2025}} Ingalls said the job gave him the experience necessary to excel at writing. “I had never spoken in public before, and here I was writing speeches for the police brass and acting as a spokesman for the department. It really gave me confidence that would later help make me a better writer... I definitely think my experience in the department helped me. I worked on a lot of police shows over the years, and I used my own experiences in my writing". It was in the police that he met lifelong friend [Gene Roddenberry](/source/Gene_Roddenberry). Both of them transitioned from the Newspaper Unit within the Traffic Department to the new section when Parker was made chief. The pair shared a common background, both of them having been B-17 pilots during the war.{{sfn |Alexander| 1995| pp=107–108}} Sharing a desire to become writers, they worked together in a single office on the 27th floor of the [Los Angeles City Hall](/source/Los_Angeles_City_Hall).{{sfn |Alexander| 1995| p=114}} Ingalls was the first to resign from the LAPD to pursue a writing career.{{sfn |Alexander| 1995| p=142}} ==Screenwriting career== ===Television=== In 1957 Ingalls sold his first script for the [ZIV](/source/Ziv_Television_Programs) TV show ''[Harbor Command](/source/Harbor_Command)''. Roddenberry and Ingalls had drifted apart following Ingalls' resignation, but reunited early on in their writing careers. Roddenberry was initially the more successful of the two, and recommended Ingalls as [story editor](/source/story_editor) to [Sam Rolfe](/source/Sam_Rolfe) on the television series ''[Have Gun – Will Travel](/source/Have_Gun_%E2%80%93_Will_Travel)''.{{sfn |Alexander| 1995| pp=143–144}} Ingalls' 1957 scripts for ''[Have Gun - Will Travel](/source/Have_Gun_-_Will_Travel)'' earned him the position of associate producer. Ingalls became the show's producer in 1962.{{cite magazine |date=August 8, 1962 |title=Bob Sparks to MGM-TV |url=https://archive.org/details/variety-1962-08/page/36/mode/1up |magazine=[Variety](/source/Variety_(magazine)) |location=Hollywood, California |access-date=August 3, 2025}} Roddenberry continued to recommend Ingalls for other screenwriting jobs.{{sfn |Alexander| 1995| p=157}} ===Star Trek=== Roddenberry began to develop ''[Star Trek](/source/Star_Trek)'' and sent Ingalls a series outline, asking him to keep it "very, very confidential".{{sfn |Alexander| 1995| p=199}} Ingalls wrote two scripts for ''Star Trek'', the first, "[The Alternative Factor](/source/The_Alternative_Factor)". His second script, "[A Private Little War](/source/A_Private_Little_War)", was intended to be a criticism piece on the [Vietnam War](/source/Vietnam_War_(1963-1969)), but was heavily re-written by Roddenberry. Ingalls was angry at him for a year and insisted on being credited only under the [pseudonym](/source/pseudonym) "Jud Crucis", Latin for "Justice of the Cross".{{sfn |Alexander| 1995| pp=289–230}} ===Later television=== He wrote episodes for a variety of television series, and was a producer on shows including ''[T.J. Hooker](/source/T.J._Hooker)'' and ''[Kingston: Confidential](/source/Kingston%3A_Confidential)''. Starting as a writer, then script editor, he became the producer of the [ABC](/source/American_Broadcasting_Company) network's ''[Fantasy Island](/source/Fantasy_Island)''. Ingalls said "I started as a writer, became script editor and then producer. I ended up writing more than 30 episodes in seven years". ===Films=== Ingalls also wrote a handful of [television movies](/source/television_movies) such as the 1979 ''[Captain America](/source/Captain_America_(1979_film))'' film. He has a single theatrical film credit, ''[Airport 1975](/source/Airport_1975)'' (1974). ===Books=== His final work was the novel, ''Watchers on the Mountain'' (2005) a fictional work about the [Navajo Nation](/source/Navajo_Nation).{{sfn |Lentz, III| 2015| p=169}} ==Death== He died in 2014 after a long illness at his home in [Olympia, Washington](/source/Olympia%2C_Washington).{{sfn |Lentz, III| 2015| p=169}} ==Filmography == ===Films=== {| class="wikitable" |- ! Year !! Film !! Credit !! Notes |- | 1970 |''[Dial Hot Line](/source/Dial_Hot_Line)'' |Story by |Television movie, co-wrote story with [Carol Sobieski](/source/Carol_Sobieski) |- | 1972 |''The Bull of the West'' |Screenplay by |Television movie, co-wrote screenplay with Richard Fielder |- | 1974 |''[Airport 1975](/source/Airport_1975)'' |Screenplay by |Based on the novel ''[Airport](/source/Airport_(Hailey_novel))'' By [Arthur Hailey](/source/Arthur_Hailey) |- | 1975 |''[A Matter of Wife... and Death](/source/A_Matter_of_Wife..._and_Death)'' |Written by |Television movie |- | 1976 |''[Flood!](/source/Flood!)'' |Written by |Television movie |- | 1978 |''[The Initiation of Sarah](/source/The_Initiation_of_Sarah)'' |Screenplay by |Television movie, co-wrote screenplay with Carol Saraceno and Kenette Gfeller |- | 1979 |''[Captain America](/source/Captain_America_(1979_film))'' |Written by |Television movie |- |} ===Television=== {| class="wikitable" |- ! Year !! TV Series !! Credit !! Notes |- | 1957–58 |''[Harbor Command](/source/Harbor_Command)'' |Writer |3 episodes |- | 1958–63 |''[Have Gun – Will Travel](/source/Have_Gun_%E2%80%93_Will_Travel)'' |Writer, producer, story editor, script editor, associate producer |Multiple episodes |- | rowspan=2|1959 |''[Tombstone Territory](/source/Tombstone_Territory)'' |Writer |1 episode |- |''[Bat Masterson](/source/Bat_Masterson_(TV_series))'' |Writer |1 episode |- | rowspan=4|1960 |''[Tate](/source/Tate_(TV_series))'' |Writer |1 episode |- |''[Danger Man](/source/Danger_Man)'' |Writer |1 episode |- |''[Michael Shayne](/source/Michael_Shayne)'' |Writer |1 episode |- |''[Zane Grey Theater](/source/Dick_Powell's_Zane_Grey_Theatre)'' |Writer |1 episode |- | 1961 |''[Whiplash](/source/Whiplash_(TV_series))'' |Writer |4 episodes |- | 1961–72 |''[Bonanza](/source/Bonanza)'' |Writer |4 episodes |- | 1962 |''[Shannon](/source/Shannon_(1961_TV_series))'' |Writer |6 episodes |- | 1963–64 |''[The Travels of Jaimie McPheeters](/source/The_Travels_of_Jaimie_McPheeters_(TV_series))'' |Writer, producer, associate producer{{cite news |title=MGM Studio Plans to Double Output for TV |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-fresno-bee-don-ingalls-1918-2014/175664075/ |work=The Fresno Bee |date=June 16, 1963 |location=Fresno, CA |page=118 |access-date=July 1, 2025 |via=[Newspapers.com](/source/Newspapers.com)}} {{Open access}} | |- | 1963–69 |''[The Virginian](/source/The_Virginian_(TV_series))'' |Writer, producer | |- | 1965 |''[Daniel Boone](/source/Daniel_Boone_(1964_TV_series))'' |Writer |1 episode |- | 1965–66 |''[Honey West](/source/Honey_West_(TV_series))'' |Writer, associate producer | |- | 1966 |''[12 O'Clock High](/source/12_O'Clock_High_(TV_series))'' |Associate producer |11 episodes |- | 1966–69 |''[The Big Valley](/source/The_Big_Valley)'' |Writer |5 episodes |- | rowspan=2|1967 |''[Gunsmoke](/source/Gunsmoke)'' |Writer |2 episodes |- |''The Road West'' |Writer |1 episode |- | 1967–68 |''[Star Trek: The Original Series](/source/Star_Trek%3A_The_Original_Series)'' |Writer |2 episodes |- | 1968 |''[Cowboy in Africa](/source/Cowboy_in_Africa)'' |Writer |1 episode |- | 1969–70 |''[Then Came Bronson](/source/Then_Came_Bronson)'' |Writer |2 episodes |- | rowspan=4|1970 |''[Adam-12](/source/Adam-12)'' |Writer |1 episode |- |''[Matt Lincoln](/source/Matt_Lincoln)'' |Writer |1 episode |- |''[Marcus Welby, M.D.](/source/Marcus_Welby%2C_M.D.)'' |Writer |2 episodes |- |''[The Silent Force](/source/The_Silent_Force_(TV_series))'' |Writer |1 episode |- | 1971 |''[The Bold Ones: The New Doctors](/source/The_Bold_Ones%3A_The_New_Doctors)'' |Writer |1 episode |- | 1971–72 |''[The Mod Squad](/source/The_Mod_Squad)'' |Writer |2 episodes |- | 1972 |''[The Sixth Sense](/source/The_Sixth_Sense_(American_TV_series))'' |Writer, executive story consultant, creative consultant | |- | 1973 |''[The Snoop Sisters](/source/The_Snoop_Sisters)'' |Writer |1 episode |- | 1973–75 |''[Police Story](/source/Police_Story_(1973_TV_series))'' |Writer |4 episodes |- | rowspan=2|1974 |''[Doc Elliot](/source/Doc_Elliot)'' |Writer |1 episode |- |''[Born Free](/source/Born_Free_(TV_series))'' |Writer |1 episode |- | 1976 |''[Serpico](/source/Serpico_(TV_series))'' |Producer |Unknown episodes |- | 1977 |''[Kingston: Confidential](/source/Kingston%3A_Confidential)'' |Writer, producer | |- | 1979 |''[A Man Called Sloane](/source/A_Man_Called_Sloane)'' |Writer |1 episode |- | 1979–84 |''[Fantasy Island](/source/Fantasy_Island)'' |Writer, director, producer, executive story consultant | |- | 1985–86 |''[T.J. Hooker](/source/T.J._Hooker)'' |Writer, producer | |- |} ==Notes== {{reflist|30em}} ==References== {{refbegin}} * {{Cite book |last=Alexander |first=David |year=1995 |title=Star Trek Creator: The Authorized Biography of Gene Roddenberry |publisher=Roc |location=New York |isbn=0-451-45440-5 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/startrekcreator00davi }} * {{Cite book |last=Lentz, III|first=Harris M.|year=2015|title=Obituaries in the Performing Arts, 2014 | publisher=McFarland & Company, Inc.|location=Jefferson, NC |isbn=978-1-476-61961-3 }} {{refend}} ==External links== * {{IMDb name|408681}} {{Memory Alpha}} {{Authority control}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Ingalls, Don}} Category:1918 births Category:2014 deaths Category:People from Humboldt, Nebraska Category:21st-century American novelists Category:American science fiction writers Category:American television writers Category:Los Angeles Police Department officers Category:American male television writers Category:United States Army Air Forces officers Category:United States Army Air Forces pilots of World War II Category:21st-century American male writers Category:Screenwriters from Nebraska Category:21st-century American screenwriters --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Don Ingalls](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don_Ingalls) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don_Ingalls?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.