Herbert J. Wright (November 9, 1946 – August 24, 2005) was a

science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel uni ...

author and television director and producer. He was born in Keokuk, Iowa. His most notable works were '' Star Trek: The Next Generation'' and ''

War of the Worlds ''The War of the Worlds'' is a science fiction novel by English author H. G. Wells, first serialised in 1897 by '' Pearson's Magazine'' in the UK and by ''Cosmopolitan'' magazine in the US. The novel's first appearance in hardcover was i ...

''. He directed a few episodes of the latter series and wrote and directed the season finale "The Angel of Death," which guest-starred his second wife Elaine Giftos. Among ''Star Trek'' fans he is known as the "Father of the Ferengi" and was known for his unique storytelling that he himself called "weird shit." Other works include Rod Serling's ''

Night Gallery ''Night Gallery'' is an American anthology television series that aired on NBC from December 16, 1970, to May 27, 1973, featuring stories of horror and the macabre. Rod Serling, who had gained fame from an earlier series, ''The Twilight Zone ...

'', '' Cadillacs and Dinosaurs'', '' Stingray'', '' Hunter'', '' McCloud'', and the '' Flipper'' revival series. After he graduated from

Yale Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wor ...

with honors, Wright moved to Hollywood to begin working in the filmmaking industry. He also studied in Japan as an exchange student, during which he met with director

Akira Kurosawa was a Japanese filmmaker and painter who directed thirty films in a career spanning over five decades. He is widely regarded as one of the most important and influential filmmakers in the history of cinema. Kurosawa displayed a bold, dyna ...

, and began his lifelong study of martial arts. He also worked on (off television) ''Mars and Beyond'', which featured Giftos and was distributed on his Cyber Sci-Fi Network. Wright had a strong friendship with Gene Roddenberry. The two met while Roddenberry was making '' The Questor Tapes''. He showed a great interest in the story, and was going to contribute to the series that was planned to follow. However, the project fell apart due to Roddenberry's conflicts with the studio. Though Roddenberry considered the series to be dead, the concept stuck with Wright, who had hopes that it could be revived. When the rights finally fell back to the Roddenberry family in the 2000s, Wright secured the option to the property and set out to produce the series, updating it while still staying true to Roddenberry's vision. During the initial production stages, Wright became ill and died of prostate cancer in

Woodland Hills, California Woodland Hills is a neighborhood bordering the Santa Monica Mountains in the San Fernando Valley region of Los Angeles, California. Geography Woodland Hills is in the southwestern region of the San Fernando Valley, which is located east of Ca ...

, on August 24, 2005, at age 58.

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* {{DEFAULTSORT:Wright, Herbert 1947 births 2005 deaths American television directors American television writers American male television writers People from Columbus, Indiana Screenwriters from Indiana 20th-century American screenwriters 20th-century American male writers Television producers from Indiana