Cannell, Stephen J. 1941-

PERSONAL

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. Education: University of Oregon, B.A., 1964. Religion: Episcopalian.

Addresses:

Agent—Writers and Artists, 8383 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90024-6095.

Career:

Producer, director, screenwriter, actor, and executive. Universal Studios, Hollywood, CA, story editor, 1966-79; Stephen J. Cannell Productions, Los Angeles, CA, chief executive officer, 1979—. Cannell Studios, founder, 1986; North Shores Studies, Vancouver, British Columbia, part-owner, 1989—; Cannell Communications, 1989—; Cannell Distribution, Co., founder, 1990-95. Previously worked at the decorating firm of Cannell and Chafin.

Member:

Writers Guild of America, Producers Guild, Directors Guild of America, Orton Dyslexia Society (national chairperson).

Awards, Honors:

Edgar Allan Poe Award, best mystery writing—screenplays, Mystery Writers of America, 1971, and Edgar Allan Poe Award nomination, best television episode, 1974, both for Toma; Mystery Writers Award, 1975; Emmy Award, outstanding drama series, 1978, and Emmy Award nominations, outstanding drama series and outstanding writing, 1979, 1980, 1981, all for The Rockford Files; Edgar Allan Poe Award, best mystery writing—screenplay, 1979, and Edgar Allen Poe Award nomination, best television episode, 1980, both for Stone; Emmy Award nomination, best writing for a single episode of a regular series, 1980, Edgar Allan Poe Award nomination, best television episode, and Television Award, outstanding achievement—television drama—episodic script any length, Writers Guild of America, 1981, all for the pilot episode, Tenspeed and Brownshoe; Emmy Award nomination, best writing for a single episode of a regular series, 1981, Writers Guild of America Award nomination, best comedy episodic, 1982, both for the pilot episode, The Greatest American Hero; Lifetime Achievement Award, Casting Society of America, 1989; Emmy Award nomination (with others), outstanding writing in a comedy series, 1989, for Wiseguy; Monte Carlo Television Market's Showman of the Year, 2001; Star on the Walk of Fame; Life Career Award, Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Films, 2005; Laurel Award for Television Writing Achievement, Writers Guild of America, 2006.

CREDITS

Television Executive Producer; Series:

(With Jo Swerling, Jr.) Toma, ABC, 1973-74.

(With Meta Rosenberg) The Rockford Files (also known as Jim Rockford, Private Investigator), NBC, 1974-80.

Baa-Baa Blacksheep, NBC, 1976-77, retitled The Black Sheep Squadron, NBC, 1977-78.

(With Steven Bochco) Richie Brockelman, Private Eye, NBC, 1978.

The Duke, NBC, 1979.

Tenspeed and Brownshoe, ABC, 1980.

(With Donald P. Bellisario), Stone, ABC, 1980.

The Greatest American Hero, ABC, 1981-83.

(With Juanita Bartlett), The Quest, ABC, 1982.

The Rousters, NBC, 1983-84.

(With Patrick Harsburgh), Hardcastle and McCormick, ABC, 1983-86.

(With Frank Lupo), The A-Team, NBC, 1983-87.

(With Jo Swerling and Lupo), Riptide, NBC, 1984-86.

Hunter, NBC, 1984-91.

(With Lupo), The Last Precinct, NBC, 1986.

Stingray, NBC, 1986-87.

J. J. Starbuck, NBC, 1987-88.

21 Jump Street, Fox, 1987-91.

Wiseguy, CBS, 1987-91.

Sonny Spoon, NBC, 1988.

UNSUB (also known as Unknown Subject), NBC, 1989.

Booker (also known as Booker, P.I.), Fox, 1989.

Top of the Hill (also known as Lame Duck), CBS, 1989.

Thunder Boat Row, ABC, 1989.

Broken Badges, CBS, 1990.

Silk Stalkings, syndicated, 1991.

Palace Guard, CBS, 1991.

The Commish, ABC, 1991.

Scene of the Crime, 1991.

Disney Presents the 100 Lives of Black Jack Savage, NBC, 1991.

The Belles of Bleeker Street, 1991.

Renegade, 1992.

The Hat Squad, CBS, 1992.

Cobra (also known as Viper), syndicated, 1993.

Missing Persons, ABC, 1993.

Hawkeye, syndicated, 1994.

Traps, CBS, 1994.

Marker, syndicated, 1995.

Profit, Fox, 1996.

Hunter, 2003.

Television Producer; Series:

Chase, 1973.

Richie Brockelman, Private Eye, 1978.

Henderson Monsters, 1980.

Street Justice, 1991.

Television Creator; Series:

Chase, NBC, 1973.

The Rockford Files, NBC, 1974.

Baa-Baa Blacksheep, NBC, 1976-77, retitled The Black Sheep Squadron, NBC, 1977-78.

Richie Brockelman, Private Eye, NBC, 1978.

Stone, ABC, 1980.

The Greatest American Hero, ABC, 1981-83.

Stingray, NBC, 1986-87.

J. J. Starbuck, NBC, 1987-88.

Wiseguy, CBS, 1987-91.

Sonny Spoon, NBC, 1988.

Booker (also known as Booker, P.I.), Fox, 1989.

Thunder Boat Row, ABC, 1989.

Broken Badges, CBS, 1990.

Silk Stalkings, syndicated, 1991.

Palace Guard, CBS, 1991.

The Commish, ABC, 1991.

Disney Presents the 100 Lives of Black Jack Savage, NBC, 1991.

Scene of the Crime, 1991.

The Hat Squad, CBS, 1992.

Renegade, syndicated, 1992.

Cobra (also known as Viper), syndicated, 1993.

Traps, CBS, 1994.

The Rockford Files: I Still Love L.A., CBS, 1994.

Marker, syndicated, 1995.

Television Executive Producer; Pilots:

(With Steven Bochco), Richie Brockelman: The Missing 24 Hours, NBC, 1976.

(With Meta Rosenberg), Scott Free, NBC, 1976.

Baa Baa, Black Sheep (also known as Flying Misfits), 1976.

Dr. Scorpion, ABC, 1978.

The Gypsy Warriors, CBS, 1978.

Stone, ABC, 1979.

(With Alex Beaton), The Night Rider, ABC, 1979.

Boston and Kilbride, CBS, 1979.

Tenspeed and Brownshoe, ABC, 1980.

(With Glen A. Larson), Nightside, ABC, 1980.

Brothers-in-Law, ABC, 1980.

(With Frank Lupo), Four Eyes, NBC, 1984.

Hunter, NBC, 1984.

Stingray, NBC, 1985.

(With Lupo), The Last Precinct, NBC, 1986.

(With Patrick Harsburgh), Destination: America, ABC, 1987.

Sirens, CBS, 1987.

Broken Badges, CBS, 1990.

Palace Guard, CBS, 1991.

Disney Presents the 100 Lives of Black Jack Savage, NBC, 1991.

Two, syndicated, 1996.

Television Producer; Pilots:

The Rockford Files (also known as The Rockford Files: Backlash of the Hunter), NBC, 1974.

Television Creator; Pilots:

Brothers-in-Law, ABC, 1980.

Television Executive Producer; Movies:

(With Juanita Bartlett), Midnight Offerings, ABC, 1981.

Brothers-in-Law, ABC, 1985.

The Last Precinct, NBC, 1986.

Destination: America, ABC, 1987.

Scandals, 1988.

The Great Pretender (also known as Dead End Brattigan), NBC, 1991.

Greyhounds, CBS, 1994.

Jake Lassiter: Justice on the Bayou (also known as Lassiter and Jake Lassiter: To Speak for the Dead), NBC, 1995.

A Child Is Missing (also known as The Dog Hermit), CBS, 1995.

The Commish: Father Image, ABC, 1995.

The Commish: In the Shadow of the Gallows, ABC, 1995.

The Return of Hunter (also known as The Return of Hunter: Everyone Walks in L.A.), NBC, 1995.

The Surrogate, ABC, 1995.

Two, 1995.

The Commish: Redemption, ABC, 1996.

Them, UPN, 1996.

Hawaii-Five O, 1997.

Hunter: Return to Justice, 2002.

Hunter: Back in Force, 2003.

24/24 Rule, Court TV, 2007.

Television Creator; Movies:

Stingray, NBC, 1985.

Brothers-in-Law, ABC, 1985.

Thunder Boat Row, ABC, 1989.

The Rockford Files: I Still Love L.A., CBS, 1994.

The Commish: Father Image, ABC, 1995.

The Commish: In the Shadow of the Gallows, ABC, 1995.

The Rockford Files: A Blessing in Disguise, CBS, 1995.

The Rockford Files: Godfather Knows Best, CBS, 1996.

The Rockford Files: If the Frame Fits (also known as Rockford Files: Suitable for Framing), CBS, 1996.

The Rockford Files: Crime and Punishment, CBS, 1996.

The Rockford Files: Murder and Misdemeanors, CBS, 1997.

Television Director; Episodic:

Adam-12, NBC, 1968.

Jigsaw, ABC, 1972.

Chase, NBC, 1973.

The Rockford Files (also known as Jim Rockford, Private Investigator), NBC, 1974-80.

Tenspeed and Brownshoe, ABC, 1980.

Stone, ABC, 1980.

Television Executive Producer; Episodic:

"Sirens," CBS Summer Playhouse, CBS, 1987.

Television Appearances; Series:

Host, On Top All Over the World, syndicated, 1985.

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.

Television Appearances; Movies:

Bendix, CHiPs '99, TNT, 1998.

Pacheco Laval, Threshold (also known as Le Seuil), 2003.

Frank Stone, Ice Spiders, 2007.

Television Appearances; Pilots:

Host, On Top All over the World, syndicated, 1983.

Roscoe Tanner, Charley Hannah, ABC, 1986.

Host, Scene of the Crime, CBS, 1991-92.

Television Appearances; Specials:

Today at Night, Volume II, NBC, 1986.

Host, U.S. Customs: Classified, syndicated, 1995.

The 70s: The Decade That Changed Television, ABC, 2000.

Headliners & Legends: Robert Blake, MSNBC, 2001.

Inside TV Land: Cops on Camera, TV Land, 2002.

Bring Back … The A-Team, Channel 4, 2006.

Television Appearances; Episodic:

Himself, "This One's Gonna Kill Ya," Tenspeed and Brown Shoe, ABC, 1980.

Ray Lemon, "A.A.P.I.," Magnum, P.I., 1986.

Today at Night, Volume II, NBC, 1986.

Chauffeur, Santa Barbara, 1991.

Silk Stalkings, syndicated, 1991.

Lieutenant Donald "Dutch" Dixon, "Val's Song," Renegade, USA Network and syndicated, 1993.

Love & War, CBS, 1994.

"Dutch" Dixon, "Sawed-Off Shotgun Wedding," Renegade, USA Network and syndicated, 1995.

Marshal "Dutch" Dixon, "Stationary Target," Renegade, USA Network and syndicated, 1995.

Marshal "Dutch" Dixon, "Sins of the Father," Renegade, USA Network and 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.

"Mr. T," E! True Hollywood Story, E! Entertainment Television, 1999.

Judge J. Gunnar Halloran, "Disrobed," Pacific Blue, USA Network, 2000.

"James Garner: A Maverick Spirit," Biography, Arts and Entertainment, 2000.

"Jack Webb," Biography, Arts and Entertainment, 2000.

"Robert Blake: Dark Passage," Biography, Arts and Entertainment, 2001.

Himself, "Get Vallery," V.I.P., syndicated, 2001.

"Dyslexia," Lifestyle Magazine, TBN, 2001.

Councilman Evers, Hunter, NBC, 2002.

VH1 The Greatest, VH1, 2003.

TV Land Moguls, TV Land, 2003.

"From Movies to TV," My First Time, TV Land, 2006.

The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson, CBS, 2006.

Film Executive Producer:

Director's Cut, 2001.

Dead Above Ground, 2002.

Film Producer:

The A-Team, Fox 2000 Pictures, 2001.

Bad Boy (also known as Dawg), Pyramid, 2002.

Demon Hunter, Anchor Bay, 2005.

It Waits, Anchor Bay, 2005.

The Garden, Anchor Bay, 2006.

The Tooth Fairy (video), 2006.

Left in Darkness (video), Anchor Bay, 2006.

The Poker House, The Poker House, 2008.

Film Appearances:

The coroner, Identity Crisis, 1989.

Jimmy Love, Posse, Gramercy, 1993.

The Contract, 1999.

Carl Hadden, Dead Above Ground, 2002.

Hubbard, Half Past Dead (also known as Halbtot-Half Past Dead), Sony, 2002.

Inventing Grace, Touching Glory, Aspire, 2003.

Dislecksia: The Movie, Captured Time, 2008.

Also appeared in Identity Crisis.

RECORDINGS

Videos:

Greed Kills, 2005.

Demons Among Us, Anchor Bay, 2006.

The Great 80's TV Flashback, Universal Studios Home Video, 2006.

WRITINGS

Television Pilots:

Chase, NBC, 1973.

The Rockford Files (also known as The Rockford Files: Backlash of 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:

Columbo: Double Exposure, 1973.

Scott Free, NBC, 1976.

The November Plan, 1976.

Baa Baa, Black Sheep (also known as The Flying Misfits), 1976.

Richie Brockelman: The Missing 24 Hours, 1976.

The Jordan Chance, CBS, 1978.

Dr. Scorpion, ABC, 1978.

The Night Rider, ABC, 1979.

Stone, ABC, 1979.

The Chinese Typewriter, 1979.

Nightside, ABC, 1980.

Midnight Offerings, ABC, 1981.

Brothers-in-Law, ABC, 1985.

Stingray, NBC, 1985.

Thunder Boat Row, ABC, 1989.

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.

Hawaii-Five O, 1997.

The Rockford Files: If It Bleeds … It Leads, CBS, 1999.

Hunter: Return to Justice, NBC, 2002.

Hunter: Back in Force, NBC, 2003.

Television Episodes:

It Takes a Thief, ABC, 1968.

Adam-12, ABC, 1968.

Ironside (also known as The Raymond Burr Show), 1970-71.

The D.A., 1971.

Columbo, NBC, 1971.

Chase, 1973.

Toma, ABC, 1973-74.

The Rockford Files (also known as Jim Rockford, Private Investigator), NBC, 1974-80.

Baa-Baa Blacksheep, NBC, 1976.

City of Angels, 1976.

Baretta, ABC, 1978.

Richie Brockelman, Private Eye, NBC, 1978.

The Duke, 1979.

Brothers-in-Law, ABC, 1980.

Stone, ABC, 1980.

The Greatest American Hero, ABC, 1981-83.

The Quest, ABC, 1982.

The Rousters, NBC, 1983.

Hardcastle and McCormick, ABC, 1983-86.

The A-Team, NBC, 1983-87.

Riptide, NBC, 1984-86.

Hunter, NBC, 1984-91.

(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.

Dead Above Ground, Keystone, 2002.

It Waits, Anchor Bay, 2005.

The Tooth Fairy (video), Anchor Bay, 2006.

Novels:

The Plan, William Morrow, 1995.

Final Victim, William Morrow, 1996.

King Con, William Morrow, 1997.

Riding the Snake, William Morrow, 1998.

The Devil's Workshop, William Morrow, 1999.

The Viking Funeral, St. Martin's Press, 2001.

The Tin Collectors, St. Martin's Press, 2001.

Hollywood Tough: A Shane Scully Novel, St. Martin's Press, 2003.

Runaway Heart, St. Martin's Pres, 2003.

Vertical Coffin, St. Martin's Press, 2004.

Cold Hit, St. Martin's Press, 2005.

White Sister, St. Martin's Press, 2006.

Three Shirt Deal, St. Martin's Press, 2008.

At First Sight, Vanguard Press, 2008.

OTHER SOURCES

Books:

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

Periodicals:

Detroit News, April 8, 1992, pp. 9D.

Newsweek, March 12, 1984, pp. 91; December 26, 1988, pp. 70.

New York, October 8, 1984, pp. 80; November 26, 1990, pp. 78; September 30, 1991, pp. 62.

People Weekly, January 30, 1984, pp. 63.

Rolling Stone, March 23, 1988, pp. 41.

TV Guide, November 7, 1987, pp. 48.

Variety, September 23, 1987, pp. 148; February 15, 1989, pp. 90; October 4, 1990, pp. 103; April 15, 1991, pp. 200.