{{Short description|American screenwriters (1902–1989, 1898–1984)}} {{Use American English|date=January 2026}} {{Use mdy dates|date=January 2026}} {{Infobox person | name = Frank and Doris Hursley | occupation = Screenwriting duo | image = | image_size = | caption = | years_active = | other_names = | known_for = {{Plainlist| *''Have Gun, Will Travel'' *''Search for Tomorrow'' *''General Hospital'' }} | module = {{Infobox| decat = yes | child = yes | title= '''Frank Hursley''' | label1 = Birth Name | data1 = Frank M. Hursley | label2 = Born | data2 = {{Birth_date|1902|11|21}}<br>Canada | label3 = Died | data3 = {{death date and age|1989|2|3|1902|11|21}}<br>Santa Barbara, California, United States | label4 =Family | data4 = Bridget Dobson (daughter) }} | module2= {{Infobox | decat = yes | child = yes | title = '''Doris Hursley''' | label1 = Birth name | data1 = | label2 = Born | data2 = {{Birth_date|1898|9|29}}<br>Milwaukee, Wisconsin United States | label3 = Died | data3 = {{death date and age|1984|5|5|1898|9|29}}<br>Santa Barbara, California, United States | label4 = Parents | data4 = Victor L. Berger<br>Meta Berger }} }}
'''Frank and Doris Hursley''', were an American husband-and-wife television screenwriting duo, comprising '''Frank M. Hursley''' (November 21, 1902 – February 3, 1989) and '''Doris Hursley''' (September 29, 1898 – May 5, 1984) they were best known for their serials, especially the medical drama ''General Hospital.''
== Career == The couple were writers on the Western series ''Have Gun, Will Travel'', but became famous in the soap world in 1957 when they began writing for the CBS Daytime show ''Search for Tomorrow''.
They continued to write for it even after co-creating a new show, ''General Hospital'', in 1963. (Another married writing team, Theodore and Mathilde Ferro, wrote the show in its early months.) This medical drama was the first serious effort by ABC Daytime to create a daytime serial. Today, ''General Hospital'' is the longest-running daytime serial on American television. The duo head wrote the show until 1973, when they handed the reins to their daughter and son-in-law, Bridget and Jerome Dobson.
In 1969, the Hursleys created and wrote the NBC Daytime soap opera ''Bright Promise'' that starred Dana Andrews as college president Tom Boswell. However, they soon left that series and it was eventually cancelled in 1972.
The Hursleys retired from writing serials after being fired in 1973.
===Credits=== ''Love, American Style, Wagon Train, Have Gun – Will Travel, Whirlybirds, The Adventures of Jim Bowie, The Millionaire, Dr. Christian, Lassie, Matinee Theatre, The 20th Century-Fox Hour, The Moon is Blue ''
===Awards/nominations=== Frank and Doris were nominated for a Daytime Emmy Awards in 1974. They shared this nomination with their daughters Bridget (Dobson) and Deborah (Hardy).{{cn|date=March 2024}}
===Lawsuit=== In April, 2011, the Hursleys' daughters filed a lawsuit against ABC over unpaid royalties.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Belloni |first1=Matthew |title='General Hospital' Lawsuit Claims ABC Shortchanged Creators |url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/business-news/general-hospital-lawsuit-claims-abc-182348/ |website=The Hollywood Reporter |date=26 April 2011 |access-date=2024-02-05}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title='General Hospital' Cheated, Creators' Heirs Say |url=https://www.courthousenews.com/general-hospital-cheated-creators-heirs-say/ |website=Courthouse News Service |access-date=2024-02-05}}</ref> They claim that their parents struck a deal with ABC years earlier to reap 10% of all profits from the syndication of the show, but allege that ABC failed to pay the full amount owed to the creators. The lawsuit was ultimately settled out of court.{{cn|date=March 2024}}
==Personal lives== {{Onesource | section|date=March 2024}} Doris Berger was the eldest daughter of Socialist Congressman Victor Berger and Socialist organizer/feminist Meta Berger and held a law degree from Marquette University.
Frank Hursley was a graduate of the University of Michigan (A.B. 1925). He left his first wife, Madeleine, and their one-year-old son, Frank Jr., both of Detroit, and became an English professor at the University of Wisconsin's Milwaukee Extension.
After Doris's divorce in 1935 from her first husband, Colin Welles, she married Frank Hursley in 1936. The couple began writing for radio during World War II and moved from their home in Thiensville, Wisconsin, to California in 1946.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Stevens |first1=Michael (Ed.) |title=Family Letters of Victor and Meta Berger, 1894–1929 |date=1995 |publisher=State Historical Society of Wisconsin |location=Madison, WI |isbn=0-87020-277-4 |page=14}}</ref>
Their daughter Bridget (1938–2024) became a television writer, creating soap opera ''Santa Barbara''.
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== *{{imdb name|0403569|Frank Hursley}} *{{imdb name|0403568|Doris Hursley}} *[https://michigantoday.umich.edu/2013/07/29/a8670/ "The Real-Life Soap Opera of GENERAL HOSPITAL Creator, Frank Hursley"] *[https://archiveswest.orbiscascade.org/ark:/80444/xv137217/op=fstyle.aspx?t=k&q=hursley Frank and Doris Hursley Papers] at the American Heritage Center
{{authority control|additional=auto}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Hursley, Frank And Doris}} Category:1902 births Category:1989 deaths Category:20th-century American screenwriters Category:American soap opera writers Category:Married couples Category:People from Thiensville, Wisconsin Category:Screenwriters from Wisconsin Category:American showrunners Category:University of Michigan alumni