# Norman Lessing

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{{short description|American dramatist}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=November 2024}}

{{Infobox writer
| name          = Norman Lessing
| image         = 
| imagesize     = 
| alt           = 
| caption       = 
| pseudonym     = 
| birth_name    = Norman Lessing
| birth_date    = {{birth date|mf=yes|1911|6|24}}
| birth_place   = [New York](/source/New_York_City), New York, U.S.
| death_date    = {{death date and age|mf=yes|2001|10|22|1911|6|24}}
| death_place   = [Santa Monica, California](/source/Santa_Monica%2C_California), U.S.
| occupation    = Academic, screenwriter, producer, playwright
| awards        = 
}}
'''Norman Lessing''' (June 24, 1911 – October 22, 2001) was an American television [screenwriter](/source/screenwriter) and producer, playwright, [chess](/source/chess) master, and chess writer.

==Biography==
Lessing grew up in New York City, and played a great deal of chess as a youth, reaching national master strength. He was [New York State](/source/New_York_State) co-champion at age 19 in 1930 at [Utica](/source/Utica%2C_New_York) with 6½/8.<ref>http://www.ishiipress.com/dake.htm{{Dead link|date=April 2020 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}, ''Dake's Complete Chess Career'', by [Sam Sloan](/source/Samuel_Sloan_(chess_player)).</ref> He often played at the [Stuyvesant](/source/Stuyvesant_Street_(Manhattan)) Chess Club, on the lower east side of [Manhattan](/source/Manhattan).<ref>''The World of Chess'', by [Anthony Saidy](/source/Anthony_Saidy) and Norman Lessing, New York 1974, Random House.</ref> He won the 1967 [Santa Monica](/source/Santa_Monica) Chess Club championship, and the 1967 United States Senior Open, at which time he had a rating of 2207.<ref>http://www.chessdryad.com/articles/wall/art_07.htm {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191220111118/http://www.chessdryad.com/articles/wall/art_07.htm |date=December 20, 2019 }}, ''California Chess in the 1960s'', by Bill Wall.</ref> He was the Senior champion at the American and National Opens several times in the 1960s.

Lessing wrote actively for television from its pioneering days in 1950 in New York, and moved to [California](/source/California) to continue his career until 1979. Shows he wrote screenplays for include ''[Hawaii Five-O](/source/Hawaii_Five-O_(1968_TV_series))'', ''[The Fugitive](/source/The_Fugitive_(1963_TV_series))'', ''[Lost in Space](/source/Lost_in_Space)'', ''[Bonanza](/source/Bonanza)'', ''[The Nurses](/source/The_Nurses_(CBS_TV_series))'', ''[The F.B.I.](/source/The_F.B.I._(TV_series))'', ''[Baretta](/source/Baretta)'', ''[Cannon](/source/Cannon_(TV_series))'', ''[Dragnet](/source/Dragnet_(series))'', ''[Eight is Enough](/source/Eight_is_Enough)'', ''[Shirley Temple's Storybook](/source/Shirley_Temple's_Storybook)'', ''[The Adventures of Ellery Queen](/source/The_Adventures_of_Ellery_Queen)'', and ''[The Man from U.N.C.L.E.](/source/The_Man_from_U.N.C.L.E.)''.<ref>[https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0504358/. Norman Lessing<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref>

He also wrote the play ''36'', which was performed all over the United States.

Lessing, along with [International Master](/source/International_Master) [Anthony Saidy](/source/Anthony_Saidy), wrote the book ''The World of Chess'', published in 1974 by Random House. This book, which has been called among the best coffee-table chess books, features many photos of top chess players throughout history, photos of many exotic chess sets, plenty of lore and stories, and chapters from each writer about their chess experiences.

He died at age 90, of congestive heart failure and complications from Parkinson's disease. At the time of his death, Lessing was working on a book about his chess experiences, to be titled ''The Stuyvesant Chess Club''. He was remembered thus in the [United States Chess Federation](/source/United_States_Chess_Federation)'s news summary: "Norman Lessing was the last link to the Golden Age of Coffeehouse Chess."<ref>http://www.uschess.org/org/govern {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080925223945/http://www.uschess.org/org/govern |date=2008-09-25 }}.</ref>

==References==

<references/>

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lessing, Norman}}
Category:1911 births
Category:2001 deaths
Category:Deaths from Parkinson's disease in California
Category:Writers from New York City
Category:Writers from Los Angeles
Category:American chess writers
Category:20th-century American dramatists and playwrights
Category:American male screenwriters
Category:American male dramatists and playwrights
Category:20th-century American male writers
Category:20th-century American non-fiction writers
Category:American male non-fiction writers
Category:Screenwriters from New York (state)
Category:Screenwriters from California
Category:20th-century American chess players
Category:20th-century American screenwriters

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Norman Lessing](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norman_Lessing) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norman_Lessing?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.