Stirling Silliphant facts for kids

Stirling Dale Silliphant (born January 16, 1918 – died April 26, 1996) was an American writer and producer for movies and TV shows. He is famous for writing the movie In the Heat of the Night, which won him an Oscar in 1967. He also created popular TV shows like Naked City, Perry Mason, and Route 66. Stirling Silliphant also wrote big disaster movies like The Towering Inferno and The Poseidon Adventure.

Early Life and Education

Stirling Silliphant was born in Detroit, Michigan. His father, Lemuel L. Silliphant, came to the United States from Canada in 1911. His mother was Ethel M. Silliphant. Stirling had a younger brother named Leigh.

When Stirling and his brother were young, their family moved to Glendale, California. He went to Hoover High School. Later, he graduated from the University of Southern California.

Amazing Career in Film and TV

Stirling Silliphant was a very busy writer for movies and television. He wrote more than 700 hours of prime-time TV shows! Many of these shows won Emmys for the people who produced, directed, or acted in them.

He was known for writing very quickly. Once, a production manager called him from El Paso, Texas. They needed an extra story for the show Route 66 to save money. Stirling wrote the script in just a couple of days!

Even though he worked a lot in Hollywood, he didn't like living in Southern California. After he became successful, he built a house in Tiburon, California. He would fly to Los Angeles for work.

Writing for Television

During World War II, Silliphant was a lieutenant in the United States Army. After the war in 1946, he worked for Walt Disney. He was the publicity director and a main writer for stories used in The Mickey Mouse Club.

He also produced some independent movies. These included 5 Against the House and Maracaibo. Later, he started writing for TV shows. He wrote for live shows like Playhouse 90. Soon after, he wrote for famous shows like Perry Mason and Alfred Hitchcock Presents.

Silliphant was very involved in two popular TV series from the 1960s: Route 66 and Naked City. He even said that some of his Naked City scripts were better than the one that won him an Oscar! He also turned eight Naked City episodes into a paperback book in 1959. Another TV series he created was Longstreet. This show featured a blind detective played by James Franciscus.

He wrote three television miniseries, which are like long TV movies. These included Pearl (about the attack on Pearl Harbor), Space (about America's early space program), and Mussolini: The Untold Story.

Writing for Movies

Stirling Silliphant wrote or co-wrote 47 feature films. Some of his notable movies include:

• Village of the Damned
• Telefon, a spy thriller with Charles Bronson
• The Towering Inferno, a disaster film nominated for Best Picture in 1974
• The Enforcer, a Dirty Harry crime movie
• Over the Top, an arm wrestling story starring Sylvester Stallone

Besides the Oscar, In the Heat of the Night also won Silliphant an Edgar Award. This award is given by the Mystery Writers of America for the best movie screenplay. He also wrote Shaft in Africa, which was the third movie in the Shaft series.

He was a close friend of the famous martial arts star Bruce Lee. Silliphant studied martial arts with Lee. Bruce Lee appeared in the movie Marlowe, which Silliphant wrote. Lee also appeared in four episodes of Silliphant's TV series Longstreet. They even worked on a martial arts movie script together called The Silent Flute.

Silliphant's last screenplay was for the 1995 film The Grass Harp.

Personal Life

Stirling Silliphant had a daughter named Dayle. He also had a son, Loren, who passed away at age 18.

In 1974, Silliphant married Tiana Alexandra Du Long. They had a son named Stirling and a stepdaughter named Melissa.

His friend, actor and martial arts expert Bruce Lee, greatly influenced Silliphant. Silliphant became very interested in Lee's martial arts. They worked together on several projects. Lee choreographed fight scenes for the film A Walk in the Spring Rain (1970). He also played a martial arts instructor in the TV show Longstreet (1971).

In 1988, Silliphant moved to Bangkok, Thailand. He passed away on April 26, 1996, at the age of 78.

His work papers are kept at the University of California, Los Angeles's Westwood campus.

See also

• Charly
• Flowers for Algernon
• Daniel Keyes
• Manos: The Hands of Fate