Stephen J. Cannell Biography (1941-)

Full name, Stephen Joseph Cannell; born February 5, 1941, in Los Angeles, CA;son of Joseph Knapp (a decorator) and Carolyn (maiden name, Baker) Cannell;married Marcia C. Finch, August 8, 1964; children: Derek (deceased), Tawnia,Chelsea, Cody. Addresses: Agent: Writers & Artists, 8383 WilshireBlvd., Los Angeles, CA 90024-6095.

Nationality: American
Gender: Male
Occupation: Producer, director, screenwriter, actor, executive
Birth Details: February 5, 1941; Los Angeles, California, United States

Famous Works

CREDITS
Television Work
Series
Executive story editor, Adam-12, ABC, 1968
Producer and creator, Chase, NBC, 1973
Executive producer (with Jo Swerling, Jr.) Toma, ABC, 1973-1974
Executive producer (with Meta Rosenberg), creator (with Roy Huggins), andsupervising producer, The Rockford Files (also known as Jim Rockford, Private Investigator), NBC, 1974-1980
Creator, Baretta, 1975
Executive producer and creator, Baa-Baa Blacksheep, NBC, 1976-1977retitled The Black Sheep Squadron, NBC, 1977-1978
Executive producer (with Steven Bochco) and creator (with Bochco), Richie Brockelman, Private Eye, NBC, 1978
Executive producer, The Duke, NBC, 1979
Producer, Henderson Monsters, 1980
Executive producer, Tenspeed and Brownshoe, ABC, 1980
Executive producer (with Donald P. Bellisario), Stone, ABC, 1980
Executive producer (with Juanita Bartlett) and creator, The Greatest American Hero, ABC, 1981-1983
Executive producer (with Bartlett), The Quest, ABC, 1982
Executive producer, The Rousters, NBC, 1983-1984
Executive producer (with Patrick Harsburgh), Hardcastle and McCormick, ABC, 1983-1986
Executive producer (with Frank Lupo), The A-Team, NBC, 1983-1987
Executive producer (with Swerling and Lupo), Riptide, NBC, 1984-1986
Executive producer, Hunter, NBC, 1984-1991
Executive producer (with Lupo), The Last Precinct, NBC, 1986
Executive producer (with Lawrence Hertzog) and creator, Stingray,NBC, 1986-1987
Executive producer (with Hertzog and Babs Greyhosky) and creator, J. J. Starbuck, NBC, 1987-1988
Executive producer (with Harsburgh and Steven Beers) and creator, 21 Jump Street, Fox, 1987-c. 1990
Executive producer (with Lupo) and creator, Wiseguy, CBS, 1987-1991
Executive producer and creator, Sonny Spoon, NBC, 1988
Executive producer, UNSUB (also known as Unknown Subject),NBC, 1989
Executive producer and creator, Booker (also known as Booker, P.I.), Fox, 1989
Executive producer, Top of the Hill (also known as Lame Duck), CBS, 1989
Executive producer and creator, Thunder Boat Row, ABC, 1989
Co-executive producer, Broken Badges, CBS, 1990
Executive producer and creator, Silk Stalkings, syndicated, 1991
Executive producer and creator, Palace Guard, CBS, 1991
Executive producer and creator, The Commish, ABC, 1991
Creator and executive producer, Scene of the Crime, 1991
Executive producer, Disney Presents the 100 Lives of Black Jack Savage, NBC, 1991
Producer, Street Justice, 1991
Executive producer and creator, The Hat Squad, CBS, 1992
Creator, Renegade, syndicated, 1992
Producer and creator, Cobra (also known as Viper), syndicated, 1993
Executive producer, Missing Persons, ABC, 1993
Executive producer, Hawkeye, syndicated, 1994
Executive producer and creator, Traps, CBS, 1994
Executive producer and creator, Marker, syndicated, 1995
Executive producer, Profit, Fox, 1996
Pilots
Associate producer, Chase, NBC, 1973
Producer, The Rockford Files (also known as The Rockford Files:Backlash of the Hunter), NBC, 1974
Executive producer (with Steven Bochco), Richie Brockelman: The Missing 24 Hours, NBC, 1976
Executive producer (with Meta Rosenberg), Scott Free, NBC, 1976
Executive producer, Dr. Scorpion, ABC, 1978
Executive producer, The Gypsy Warriors, CBS, 1978
Executive producer, Stone, ABC, 1979
Executive producer (with Alex Beaton), The Night Rider, ABC, 1979
Executive producer, Boston and Kilbride, CBS, 1979
Executive producer, Tenspeed and Brownshoe, ABC, 1980
Executive producer (with Glen A. Larson), Nightside, ABC, 1980
Executive producer and creator, Brothers-in-Law, ABC, 1980
Executive producer (with Frank Lupo), Four Eyes, NBC, 1984
Executive producer, Hunter, NBC, 1984
Executive producer, Stingray, NBC, 1985
Executive producer (with Lupo), The Last Precinct, NBC, 1986
Executive producer (with Patrick Harsburgh), Destination: America,ABC, 1987
Executive producer, Broken Badges, CBS, 1990
Executive producer, Palace Guard, CBS, 1991
Executive producer, Disney Presents the 100 Lives of Black Jack Savage, NBC, 1991
Movies
Executive producer (with Juanita Bartlett), Midnight Offerings, ABC, 1981
Sound editor, You Ruined My Life, 1987
Executive producer, The Great Pretender (also known as Dead EndBrattigan), NBC, 1991
Executive producer, Greyhounds, CBS, 1994
Creator and supervising producer, The Rockford Files: I Still Love L.A., CBS, 1994
Executive producer, Jake Lassiter: Justice on the Bayou (also known as Lassiter and Jake Lassiter: To Speak for the Dead), NBC, 1995
Executive producer, A Child Is Missing (also known as The Dog Hermit), CBS, 1995
Executive producer and creator, The Commish: Father Image, ABC, 1995
Executive producer and creator, The Commish: In the Shadow of the Gallows, ABC, 1995
Executive producer, The Return of Hunter (also known as The Return of Hunter: Everyone Walks in L.A.), NBC, 1995
Executive producer, The Surrogate, ABC, 1995
Creator and supervising producer, The Rockford Files: A Blessing in Disguise, CBS, 1995
Executive producer, Two, 1995
Creator and supervising producer, The Rockford Files: Godfather KnowsBest, CBS, 1996
Creator and supervising producer, The Rockford Files: If the Frame Fits (also known as Rockford Files: Suitable for Framing), CBS, 1996

Executive producer and creator, The Commish: Redemption, ABC, 1996
Supervising producer and creator, The Rockford Files: Crime and Punishment, CBS, 1996
Executive producer, Them, UPN, 1996
Supervising producer, The Rockford Files: Murder and Misdemeanors,CBS, 1997
Production consultant, The Rockford Files: If It Bleeds ... It Leads, CBS, 1999
Episodic
Director, Jigsaw, ABC, 1972
Associate producer and director, Chase, NBC, 1973
Director, The Rockford Files (also known as Jim Rockford, Private Investigator), NBC, 1974-1980
Director, Tenspeed and Brownshoe, ABC, 1980
Director, Stone, ABC, 1980
Executive producer, "Sirens," CBS Summer Playhouse, CBS, 1987
Television Appearances
Series
Host, Scene of the Crime (also known as L'heure du crime),1991
District Attorney Roy Conroy, Silk Stalkings, 1991
Narrator, U.S. Customs Classified, syndicated, 1995
Lieutenant "Dutch" Dixon, Renegade, USA Network and syndicated, c.1997
Movies
Bendix, CHiPs '99, TNT, 1998
Pilots
Host, On Top All over the World, syndicated, 1983
Roscoe Tanner, Charley Hannah, ABC, 1986
Host, Scene of the Crime, CBS, 1991-1992
Specials
Today at Night, Volume II, NBC, 1986
Host, U.S. Customs: Classified, syndicated, 1995
Episodic
Stephen J. Cannell, "This One's Gonna Kill Ya," Tenspeed and Brown Shoe, ABC, 1980
Ray Lemon, "A.A.P.I.," Magnum, P.I., 1986
Chauffeur, Santa Barbara, 1991
Silk Stalkings, syndicated, 1991
Lt. Donald "Dutch" Dixon, "Val's Song," Renegade, USA Network andsyndicated, 1993
"Dutch" Dixon, "Sawed-Off Shotgun Wedding," Renegade, USA Networkand syndicated, 1995
Marshal "Dutch" Dixon, "Stationary Target," Renegade, USA Networkand syndicated, 1995
Marshal "Dutch" Dixon, "Sins of the Father," Renegade, USA Networkand syndicated, 1996
Swede Mason, "Rio Reno," Renegade, USA Network and syndicated, 1996
BMW salesman, "Loyalty," Silk Stalkings, USA Network, 1996
Jackson Burley, "Must Kill TV," Diagnosis Murder, CBS, 1997
Jackson Burley, "Trash TV: Parts 1 & 2," Diagnosis: Murder, CBS, 1999
Judge J. Gunnar Halloran, "Reckoning," Pacific Blue, USA Network,1999
Judge J. Gunnar Halloran, "Disrobed," Pacific Blue, USA Network, 2000
Himself, "Get Vallery," V.I.P., syndicated, 2001
Film Work
Executive producer, Director's Cut, 2001
Producer, Dawg, 2001
Producer, The A-Team, Fox 2000 Pictures, 2001
Film Appearances
Jimmy Love, Posse, Gramercy, 1993
The Contract, 1999
Also appeared in Identity Crisis.
WRITINGS
Television Pilots
Chase, NBC, 1973
The Rockford Files (also known as The Rockford Files: Backlashof the Hunter), NBC, 1974
(With Steven Bochco) Richie Brockelman: Missing 24 Hours, NBC, 1976
Scott Free, NBC, 1976
Dr. Scorpion, ABC, 1978
(With Philip DeGuere) The Gypsy Warriors, CBS, 1978
The Jordan Chance (based on story by Cannell and John Thomas James), CBS, 1978
Stone, ABC, 1979
The Night Rider, ABC, 1979
Boston and Kilbride, CBS, 1979
Tenspeed and Brown Shoe, ABC, 1980
(With Glen A. Larson) Nightside, ABC, 1980
Brothers-in-Law, ABC, 1980
(With Herbert Wright) Stingray, NBC, 1985
Disney Presents the 100 Lives of Jack Savage, NBC, 1991
The Hat Squad, CBS, 1992
Renegade, syndicated, 1992
Television Movies
Midnight Offerings, ABC, 1981
The Great Pretender (also known as Dead End Brattigan), NBC, 1991
Greyhounds (based on story by Cannell), CBS, 1994
The Rockford Files: A Blessing in Disguise, CBS, 1995
The Rockford Files: Friends and Foul Play, ABC, 1996
(Characters) Wiseguy, ABC, 1996
The Rockford Files: If It Bleeds ... It Leads, CBS, 1999
Television Episodes
It Takes a Thief, ABC, 1968
Adam-12, ABC, 1968
Columbo, NBC, 1971
Toma, ABC, 1973-1974
The Rockford Files (also known as Jim Rockford, Private Investigator), NBC, 1974-1980
Baa-Baa Blacksheep, NBC, 1976
Baretta, ABC, 1978
Richie Brockelman, Private Eye, NBC, 1978
Brothers-in-Law, ABC, 1980
Stone, ABC, 1980
The Greatest American Hero, ABC, 1981-1983
The Quest, ABC, 1982
The Rousters, NBC, 1983
Hardcastle and McCormick, ABC, 1983-1986
The A-Team, NBC, 1983-1987
Riptide, NBC, 1984-1986
Hunter, NBC, 1984-1991
(With Frank Lupo) The Last Precinct, NBC, 1986
Stingray, NBC, 1987
J. J. Starbuck, NBC, 1987
21 Jump Street, Fox, 1987
Wiseguy, CBS, 1987
Sonny Spoon, NBC, 1988
Booker (also known as Booker, P.I.), Fox, 1989
UNSUB (also known as Unknown Subject), NBC, 1989
Thunder Boat Row, ABC, 1989
Top of the Hill (also known as Lame Duck), CBS, 1989
Broken Badges, CBS, 1990
Palace Guard, CBS, 1991
The Commish, ABC, 1991
Silk Stalkings, syndicated, 1991
Scene of the Crime, CBS, 1991
Renegade, 1992
Cobra (also known as Viper), syndicated, 1993
Traps, CBS, 1994
Marker, syndicated, 1995
Screenplays
The November Plan, Universal/CIC, 1976
The Plan, 1995
Director's Cut, 2001
Novels
The Plan, William Morrow, 1995
Final Victim, William Morrow, 1996
The Devil's Workshop, William Morrow, 1999
The Tin Collectors, St. Martin's Press, 2001

Further Reference

OTHER SOURCES

Books

Thompson, Robert J., Adventures on Prime Time: The Television Programsof Stephen J. Cannell, Praeger (New York), 1990

Periodicals

Detroit News, April 8, 1992, p. 9D
Newsweek, March 12, 1984, p. 91; December 26, 1988, p. 70
New York, October 8, 1984, p. 80; November 26, 1990, p. 78; September 30, 1991, p. 62
People Weekly, January 30, 1984, p. 63
Rolling Stone, March 23, 1988, p. 41
TV Guide, November 7, 1987, p. 48
Variety, September 23, 1987, p. 148; February 15, 1989, p. 90; October 4, 1990, p. 103; April 15, 1991, p. 200

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