Earl W. Wallace (October 23, 1942 – May 12, 2018) was an American screen and television writer who began his career in the 1970s writing episodes of the hitCBSWestern seriesGunsmoke, one of which inspired him, his wifePamela, and William Kelley to develop the screenplay for the 1985 filmWitness.[1][2]
Wallace's first submission toGunsmoke came while he was city editor of a regional newspaper, the Thousand Oaks Acorn. He had enrolled in a screenwriting class where the assignments included the creation of an original episode ofGunsmoke. The professor submitted Wallace's teleplay to theGunsmoke writing staff, who accepted it and ran it as an episode. They invited Wallace to submit further work and eventually offered him a regular position on their writing staff. When the show ended in its 20th season, Wallace was its head writer.
Wallace wrote the teleplay for the pilot of the ill-fated 1979 TV seriesSupertrain and co-wrote the story withDonald E. Westlake; Wallace and Westlake shared "created by" credit.
Wallace adapted theHerman Wouk novelWar and Remembrance for a twelve-partminiseries broadcast byABC. He also wrote episodes ofHow the West Was Won,Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, andQuinn Martin's Tales of the Unexpected, and severaltelevision movies, includingWild and Wooly,If These Walls Could Talk,A Murderous Affair: The Carolyn Warmus Story, andRose Hill.
For his work onWitness, Wallace won theAcademy Award for Best Original Screenplay, theWriters Guild of America Award for Best Original Screenplay, and theEdgar Award for Best Motion Picture Screenplay and was nominated for theGolden Globe Award for Best Screenplay and theBAFTA Award for Best Original Screenplay. He is the recipient of theWestern Writers of AmericaSpur Award for Best Television Script forHow the West Was Won.
Wallace died in 2018.[3]
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