Henry Slesar

Biography

Henry Slesar — born Henry Schlosser — was an American author, playwright, and copywriter, who wrote under several pseudonyms including O.H. Leslie and Jay Street. He was famous for his use of irony and twist endings.

Slesar wrote hundreds of scripts for television series and soap operas, leading TV Guide to call him "the writer with the largest audience in America."

While working as a copywriter, he published hundreds of short stories, including detective stories, science fiction, criminal stories, mysteries and thrillers which appeared in publications such as Playboy and Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine.

Alfred Hitchcock highly appreciated Slesar's talent and hired him to write a number of the scenarios for the Alfred Hitchcock Presents and The Alfred Hitchcock Hour television series.

He received the Edgar Allan Poe Award in 1960 for his first novel, The Gray Flannel Shroud (1958).

Slesar died in 2002, following complication from surgery.

Filmography

Alfred Hitchcock Presents...

• Alfred Hitchcock Presents - Heart of Gold (27/Oct/1957) - writer: story
• Alfred Hitchcock Presents - Night of the Execution (29/Dec/1957) - writer: story "The Day of the Execution"
• Alfred Hitchcock Presents - On the Nose (16/Feb/1958) - writer: story
• Alfred Hitchcock Presents - The Right Kind of House (09/Mar/1958) - writer: story
• Alfred Hitchcock Presents - The Morning After (11/Jan/1959) - writer: story
• Alfred Hitchcock Presents - The Right Price (08/Mar/1959) - writer: story
• Alfred Hitchcock Presents - The Kind Waitress (29/Mar/1959) - writer: story
• Alfred Hitchcock Presents - A Night with the Boys (10/May/1959) - writer: story
• Alfred Hitchcock Presents - Not the Running Type (07/Feb/1960) - writer: short story
• Alfred Hitchcock Presents - Forty Detectives Later (24/Apr/1960) - writer: story & teleplay
• Alfred Hitchcock Presents - Insomnia (08/May/1960) - writer: story & teleplay
• Alfred Hitchcock Presents - One Grave Too Many (22/May/1960) - writer: story
• Alfred Hitchcock Presents - Party Line (29/May/1960) - writer: story
• Alfred Hitchcock Presents - Pen Pal (01/Nov/1960) - writer: story
• Alfred Hitchcock Presents - The Money (29/Nov/1960) - writer: story & teleplay
• Alfred Hitchcock Presents - The Man with Two Faces (13/Dec/1960) - writer: story & teleplay
• Alfred Hitchcock Presents - A Crime for Mothers (24/Jan/1961) - writer: story & teleplay
• Alfred Hitchcock Presents - The Last Escape (31/Jan/1961) - writer: story & screenplay
• Alfred Hitchcock Presents - The Throwback (28/Feb/1961) - writer: story & teleplay
• Alfred Hitchcock Presents - The Horse Player (14/Mar/1961) - writer: story & teleplay
• Alfred Hitchcock Presents - Incident in a Small Jail (21/Mar/1961) - writer: short story
• Alfred Hitchcock Presents - A Woman's Help (28/Mar/1961) - writer: story & screenplay
• Alfred Hitchcock Presents - Servant Problem (06/Jun/1961) - writer: story & teleplay
• Alfred Hitchcock Presents - Coming Home (13/Jun/1961) - writer: short story & teleplay
• Alfred Hitchcock Presents - The Hatbox (10/Oct/1961) - writer
• Alfred Hitchcock Presents - Cop for a Day (31/Oct/1961) - writer: story & teleplay
• Alfred Hitchcock Presents - Keep Me Company (07/Nov/1961) - writer: story & teleplay
• Alfred Hitchcock Presents - The Right Kind of Medicine (19/Dec/1961) - writer: story & teleplay
• Alfred Hitchcock Presents - The Case of M.J.H. (23/Jan/1962) - writer: story & screenplay
• Alfred Hitchcock Presents - The Test (20/Feb/1962) - writer: story & teleplay
• Alfred Hitchcock Presents - Burglar Proof (27/Feb/1962) - writer: story & teleplay
• Alfred Hitchcock Presents - The Last Remains (27/Mar/1962) - writer: story & teleplay
• Alfred Hitchcock Presents - The Kerry Blue (17/Apr/1962) - writer: story & teleplay
• Alfred Hitchcock Presents - The Matched Pearl (24/Apr/1962) - writer: story & teleplay
• Alfred Hitchcock Presents - Most Likely to Succeed (08/May/1962) - writer: story & teleplay
• Alfred Hitchcock Presents - The Opportunity (22/May/1962) - writer: teleplay
• Alfred Hitchcock Presents - First Class Honeymoon (12/Jun/1962) - writer: story & teleplay

The Alfred Hitchcock Hour...

• The Alfred Hitchcock Hour - I Saw the Whole Thing (11/Oct/1962) - writer: teleplay
• The Alfred Hitchcock Hour - Final Vow (25/Oct/1962) - writer: story & teleplay
• The Alfred Hitchcock Hour - House Guest (08/Nov/1962) - writer: teleplay
• The Alfred Hitchcock Hour - What Really Happened (11/Jan/1963) - writer: teleplay
• The Alfred Hitchcock Hour - Blood Bargain (25/Oct/1963) - writer: story
• The Alfred Hitchcock Hour - Starring the Defense (15/Nov/1963) - writer: story & teleplay
• The Alfred Hitchcock Hour - Behind the Locked Door (27/Mar/1964) - writer: story & teleplay
• The Alfred Hitchcock Hour - Who Needs an Enemy? (15/May/1964) - writer: story
• The Alfred Hitchcock Hour - The Second Verdict (29/May/1964) - writer: story & teleplay
• The Alfred Hitchcock Hour - Isabel (05/Jun/1964) - writer: teleplay

Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine

• Proposal of Marriage (March 1957)
• The Day of the Execution (June 1957)
• The First Crime of Ruby Martinson (September 1957)
• The Life You Lose (September 1958)
• Case of the Kind Waitress (October 1958)
• One Grave Too Many (November 1958)
• The Case of M.J.H. (August 1959)
• The Deadly Telephone (January 1960)
• A Crime for Mothers (December 1960)
• The Case of the Secret Sorrow (January 1961)
• Ruby Martinson's Great Fur Robbery (May 1962)
• Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine (July 1962)
• Murder Delayed (August 1962)
• Whosit's Disease (October 1962)
• How to Stop Smoking (December 1962)
• Sea of Troubles (May 1963)
• The Bluff (April 1967)
• Cop in a Rocker (August 1967)
• You Can Bet on Ruby Martinson (July 1968)
• Death of the Kerry Blue (November 1968)
• The Loan (December 1972)
• The Seersucker Heart (February 1974)
• The Game As It Is Played (April 1980)
• The Witness (August 1980)
• The Trouble with Ruth (January 2003)

Hitchcock Merchandise

• A Bouquet of Clean Crimes and Neat Murders (1960) - Author
• Death on Television: The Best of Henry Slesar's Alfred Hitchcock Stories (1989) - Author

Hitchcock Fiction Anthologies

• A Cry from the Penthouse in Alfred Hitchcock Presents: Stories for Late at Night (1961)
• Lost Dog in Alfred Hitchcock Presents: Stories My Mother Never Told Me (1963)
• I'm Better than You in Alfred Hitchcock's Anti-Social Register (1965)
• Something Short of Murder in Alfred Hitchcock Presents: Stories Not for the Nervous (1965)
• The Trouble with Ruth in Alfred Hitchcock's Noose Report (1966)
• Weep for the Guilty in Alfred Hitchcock's a Hard Day at the Scaffold (1967)
• How to Stop Smoking in This Day's Evil: Alfred Hitchcock (1967)
• The Candidate in Alfred Hitchcock Presents: Stories That Scared Even Me (1967)
• Murder Delayed in Alfred Hitchcock's Games Killers Play (1968)
• Murder Delayed in Alfred Hitchcock: The Graveyard Man (1968)
• Ruby Martinson, Ex-Con in Alfred Hitchcock's Death Bag (1969)
• Job for a Amateur in Alfred Hitchcock: Murders I Fell in Love With (1969)
• Be My Valentine in Alfred Hitchcock Presents: Get Me to the Wake On Time (1970)
• Sleep is for the Innocent in Alfred Hitchcock's Rolling Gravestones (1971)
• Item in Alfred Hitchcock: This One Will Kill You (1971)
• Mr. D. and Death in Alfred Hitchcock's Death-Mate (1973)
• Voodoo Doll in Alfred Hitchcock's Behind the Death Ball (1974)
• Ordeal of Ruby Martinson in Alfred Hitchcock's Coffin Break (1974)
• Sea of Troubles in Alfred Hitchcock's Boys and Ghouls Together (1974)
• Thicker Than Water in Alfred Hitchcock's Murderers' Row (1975)
• You Can't Blame Me in Alfred Hitchcock's Tales to Keep You Spellbound (1976)
• The Deadly Telephone in Alfred Hitchcock's Having a Wonderful Crime (1977)
• Case of the Kind Waitress in Alfred Hitchcock's Tales to Make Your Blood Run Cold (1978)
• Murder Out of a Hat in Alfred Hitchcock's Murder-Go-Round (1978)
• Sea Change in Alfred Hitchcock's Tales to Scare You Stiff (1978)
• A Woman's Help in Alfred Hitchcock Presents: The Master's Choice (1979)
• Happiness Before Death in Alfred Hitchcock's Tales to Be Read with Caution (1979)
• Peephole in Alfred Hitchcock's Tales to Send Chills Down Your Spine (May 1979)
• Case of the Kind Waitress in The Best of Mystery (1980)
• Happiness Before Death in The Best of Mystery (1980)
• You Can't Blame Me in The Best of Mystery (1980)
• The Slave in Alfred Hitchcock's Tales to Make Your Teeth Chatter (1980)
• Light Fingers in Alfred Hitchcock's Tales to Fill You with Fear and Trembling (1980)
• The Poisoned Pawn in Alfred Hitchcock's Tales to Make You Weak in the Knees (1981)
• The Girl Who Found Things in Alfred Hitchcock's Fatal Attractions (1983)
• Item in Alfred Hitchcock's Crime Watch (1984)
• A Choice of Witnesses in Alfred Hitchcock's Mortal Errors (1984)
• The First Crime of Ruby Martinson in Alfred Hitchcock's Grave Suspicions (1984)
• The Day of the Execution in Hitchcock in Prime Time (1985)
• Case of the Kind Waitress in Alfred Hitchcock's Book of Horror Stories: Book 4 (1986)
• Ruby Martinson's Poisoned Pen in Alfred Hitchcock's Words of Prey (1986)
• The Time Before the Crime in Tales of Terror (1986)
• Sea Change in Tales of Terror (1986)
• The Girl Who Found Things in Portraits of Murder (1988)
• The Poisoned Pawn in Portraits of Murder (1988)
• Ruby Martinson's Poisoned Pen in Alfred Hitchcock's A Brief Darkness (1988)
• You Can’t Blame Me in Alfred Hitchcock's Book of Horror Stories: Book 9 (1989)
• The Day of the Execution in Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine Presents Fifty Years of Crime and Suspense (2006)

Links

• Internet Movie Database
• Wikipedia

born 12/Jun/1927 Brooklyn, New York, USA died 02/Apr/2002 New York City, New York, USA