Kathleen Hite | |
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| Born | Mary Kathleen Hite June 17, 1917 Wichita, Kansas, U.S. |
| Died | February 18, 1989 (aged 71) Carefree, Arizona, U.S. |
| Alma mater | Wichita State University |
| Occupation | Writer |
Mary Kathleen Hite (June 17, 1917[citation needed] – February 18, 1989) was an American writer for radio and television, including writing for the popular Western seriesGunsmoke. Hite was the first female staff writer for CBS.
Kathleen was born inWichita, Kansas, the youngest of three children of Estelle (née Worrell) and Frank Hite.[1][2] Her father was acattleman, as was her older brother Russell, who later operated the family'sranch inNew Mexico.[2] All of her grandparents had moved to Kansas during the days of theAmerican frontier, and she noted that all were "great storytellers" about their lives, which she absorbed as a child. After attending high school inHutchinson, Kansas, Hite attendedWichita State University, where she majored in journalism and history.[3][4]
Hite's career in radio and television started in Wichita, where she began working at a radio station soon after her graduation from Wichita State University.[3] By 1943, however, she moved toLos Angeles, California and accepted a position atCBS Radio to work as a secretary. Later, the would-be writer explained how she managed at that time to circumvent the company's employment restrictions:
CBS had a policy against hiring women writers so I hired on as a secretary. I figured once I got inside the building I could destroy them from within...I badgered the head of the writing department until he gave me a chance to write.[1]
Hite's plan quickly succeeded, for within a year she became the first woman staff writer for CBS.[1] She subsequently noted thatWorld War II-related labor shortages also helped her to obtain that promotion, explaining that "a producer needed a radio scriptwriter—ANY radio scriptwriter. And there I was."[5]In the coming years, she also proposed stories and wrote scripts for several television series, includingThe Jane Wyman Show,Alfred Hitchcock Presents,Mystery Playhouse,Thriller,Gunsmoke, andThe Waltons.[3][5] Hite served as a script editor as well forThe Whistler andThe Adventures of Philip Marlowe in 1950. She quit CBS in late 1950/early 1951, because freelance writers were paid 350% more per script.[6]
Hite's contributions to TV series about the American West were particularly substantive, as she wrote over 100 scripts in total for shows likeGunsmoke,Wagon Train,The Monroes, andEmpire.[7]During the 1950s and 1960s, she was among a small number of female writers for television Westerns and was identified in that period as "one of the top Cowboy-and-Indian scribes of all time".[8]
Hite received the Headliner Award from the National Professional Journalism Society in 1964. She was also made an honorary member of theChoctaw Native American tribe in 1965.[7] In 1970, she was presented the Achievement Award fromWichita State University's alumni association, which is that organization's highest honor.[9]
Hite died on February 18, 1989, inCarefree, Arizona, at the age of 71.[10]
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