Stephen J. Cannell


Stephen Joseph Cannell was an American television producer, writer, novelist, and occasional actor, and the founder of Cannell Entertainment and the Cannell Studios.
After starting his career as a television script writer, Cannell created or co-created several dozen successful TV series from the 1970s to the 1990s, often with his creative partner Frank Lupo. Cannell's creations included The Rockford Files, The A-Team, The Greatest American Hero, 21 Jump Street, and The Commish. He also wrote novels, notably the Shane Scully mystery series.

Early life

Cannell was born in Los Angeles, California, and raised in nearby Pasadena. He was the son of Carolyn and Joseph Knapp Cannell. Joseph owned the highly successful interior decorating company Cannell and Chaffin. Cannell struggled with dyslexia in school, but did graduate from the University of Oregon in 1964 with a bachelor of science degree in journalism. At UO, he joined the Sigma Chi fraternity.

Career

After college, Cannell spent four years working with the family business before selling his first script to the Universal series It Takes a Thief in 1968. He was quickly hired by the television production branch of Universal Studios and was soon freelance writing for such other crime shows as Ironside and Columbo. Not long afterward, he received a telephone call from friend Herman Saunders who was the producer on the series Adam-12. They needed a script right away and Saunders asked if Stephen would be interested in writing it. He delivered what they wanted in one day, his first full-time gig, and was soon hired as story editor of Jack Webb's police series Adam-12, then in its fourth season.
Cannell created or co-created nearly 40 television series, mostly crime dramas, including The Rockford Files, Chase, Black Sheep Squadron, Baretta, City of Angels, and under his own banner, The Greatest American Hero, The A-Team, Hardcastle and McCormick, Wiseguy, 21 Jump Street, Silk Stalkings, and The Commish. In the process, he had by his own count, scripted more than 450 episodes, and produced or executive produced over 1,500 episodes.
He described his early financial arrangements in a 2002 interview, saying that at Universal,
In 1979, Cannell left Universal and formed his own company, Stephen J. Cannell Productions. For the first few years, Cannell's office was located on the lot at Paramount Studios in Hollywood, though his earlier work at Universal was still distributed by MCA-Universal. Cannell's first series under his new banner was Tenspeed and Brown Shoe, and was soon followed by The Greatest American Hero, The Quest, The A-Team, Hardcastle and McCormick, Riptide, and Hunter. Cannell offices relocated to larger facilities on Hollywood Blvd in 1983.
Cannell also acted occasionally, including a recurring role as main antagonist "Dutch" Dixon on his series Renegade. He also took a turn in an episode of Silk Stalkings, in which the script called for one character to tell him, "You look just like that writer on TV," to which Cannell's character responds, "I get that all the time." He also served as the host of the 1991–92 series Scene of the Crime a mystery anthology series with a repertory cast, 1995–1996 syndicated documentary series U.S. Customs Classified, focusing on the work of the U.S Customs Service. Cannell appeared as himself in the pilot of the ABC show Castle and again in season two. Along with James Patterson, Dennis Lehane, and Michael Connelly, he was one of Castle's poker buddies. In season three, following Cannell's death, an empty seat at the poker table is described as Cannell's, and remains empty for a full year in tribute to him.
In 1987, and with a favorable exchange rate between the US and Canadian dollars being a win/win for US producers, Cannell decided to shoot his new series Stingray in Toronto. So many producers were shooting in Toronto that no crews were available to man any additional productions. Cannell shot seven episodes of Stingray in Calgary with the remainder being shot in Vancouver. His first series shot there was 21 Jump Street, the highest-rated show of the new Fox network's first season. With more and more series being shot in Vancouver, Cannell said, "We were fighting with everybody for locations and stage space". His solution was to build a new, state-of-the-art facility, "The North Shore Studios" on 13 acres with one hundred thousand square feet of office space and seven sound stages. The series 21 Jump Street was soon followed by Wiseguy, The Commish, Booker, Hawkeye, Cobra, The Hat Squad, J.J. Starbuck, Stingray, Street Justice, and Unsub, and a number of television films were also shot in Vancouver by Cannell's production company.
In May 1988, Cannell was a panelist in the John Davidson edition of The Hollywood Squares.
On July 31, 1995, New World Communications acquired his Cannell Entertainment production company. Cannell then founded the Cannell Studios. One of the first shows produced by the newly established Cannell Studios was the short-lived but critically acclaimed corporate drama Profit.
Starting in 1995, Cannell turned his attention to writing novels. His first novel, The Plan, was released in 1997 by Avon. As of 2010, he had written 18, 11 of which featured the character of detective Shane Scully of the Los Angeles Police Department. Seven are stand-alone novels. The last in the series, Vigiliante, was released December 2011 by St. Martin's Press.
The 2009 documentary features an interview with Cannell, in which he discusses his struggles with dyslexia and how he managed to be such a successful writer despite his difficulties reading. During the interview, he mentions how he used to hire typists to overcome his "spelling problem", as he refers to his dyslexia, but also describes how he feels his condition has enriched his life.
Cannell's TV series The A-Team was remade into a 2010 feature-length film. Cannell served as a producer and creative consultant for the project. His other series 21 Jump Street was made into a 2012 feature by Columbia Pictures and Metro Goldwyn Mayer, and into the sequel 22 Jump Street, which was released in June 2014.
He won the Emmy Award for Outstanding Drama Series in 1978 for The Rockford Files.
In March 2020, the Cannell estate signed a worldwide distribution deal with Shout! Factory.

Personal life

Cannell married his high school sweetheart, Marcia, in 1964. He "asked her to go steady in the eighth grade". Together they had two daughters, Tawnia and Chelsea, and two sons, Cody and Derek. Derek died in 1981 at age 15 when a sand castle he was building at the beach collapsed and suffocated him. This tragedy had occurred during the filming of the "Captain Bellybuster" episode of The Greatest American Hero. Actor William Katt wrote a song for Cannell, titled, "Cody the Cowboy". Cannell was so touched by this gift that he named his next son Cody in honor of the song.
Cannell was dyslexic, and was a spokesman on the subject. According to an episode of Paul Harvey's The Rest of the Story, Cannell frequently had to dictate ideas or even complete scripts with the help of his personal secretary Grace Curcio, an employee of 20 years. Following Grace's retirement in 2003, Kathy Ezso became his editor and executive assistant. He discussed his experiences as a dyslexic in the 2009 documentary Dislecksia: The Movie.
Cannell wrote on a typewriter, an IBM Selectric, when not dictating to an assistant, and only used a computer for research purposes.
Cannell died on September 30, 2010, from complications of melanoma. He is interred at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in the Hollywood Hills of Los Angeles.

Selected filmography

On May 4, 1998, Cannell reacquired his library from Fox. Cannell sold his company in March 1995 to New World Communications for $30 million and News Corporation acquired New World in 1996. However, two of Cannell's series, The A-Team and Hunter are controlled by two other studios: Universal for the former and Sony Pictures Television for the latter and weren't part of the deal. Also part of the deal, Cannell would pay Fox for international and domestic sales for his series.
On January 24, 2006, The Carsey-Werner Company acquired distribution rights to Cannell's library.

Notable acting credits