Leigh Chapman (March 29, 1939 – November 4, 2014) was an American actress and screenwriter. She began her career in acting during the 1960s, notably in a recurring role as Sarah Johnson, a secretary in the television series ''
The Man from U.N.C.L.E.
''The Man from U.N.C.L.E.'' is an American spy fiction television series produced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Television and first broadcast on NBC. The series follows secret agents Napoleon Solo, played by Robert Vaughn, and Illya Kuryakin, p ...
'', 1965.
Chapman transitioned to a career in screen and scriptwriting from the 1960s to the 1990s.
She focused on writing for action-adventure films, an unusual genre for women scriptwriters in Hollywood during the 1970s.
''The Hollywood Reporter'' called Chapman "a pioneering female screenwriter in the action-adventure genre."
Her screenwriting credits included ''
Dirty Mary, Crazy Larry
''Dirty Mary, Crazy Larry'' is a 1974 American road crime drama film based on the 1963 Richard Unekis novel titled ''The Chase'' (later retitled ''Pursuit''). Directed by John Hough, the film stars Peter Fonda, Susan George, Adam Roarke, and ...
'' in 1974 and ''
The Octagon The Octagon may refer to:
*The Octagon, Christchurch, a former church in the central city of Christchurch, New Zealand
*The Octagon, Dunedin, the city centre of Dunedin, New Zealand
*The Octagon (Egypt), the headquarters of the Egyptian Ministry of ...
'' in 1980.
''Filmink'' argued she has "become a bit of a cult figure in recent years."
Biography
Early life
Chapman was born Rosa Lee Chapman in 1939 in Kannapolis, North Carolina.
She graduated from Winthrop College (now named Winthrop University), located in Rock Hill, South Carolina.
[
*
*
] She married right out of college, and her husband wanted to be an actor, so they moved to Los Angeles during the early 1960s. She initially hired for her first job as a secretary for an attorney at the
William Morris Agency
The William Morris Agency (WMA) was a Hollywood-based talent agency. It represented some of the best-known 20th-century entertainers in film, television, and music. During its 109-year tenure it came to be regarded as the "first great talent ...
, a major Hollywood talent agency.
Her marriage ended after a year but she stayed at the agency. She was dating a writer, Ed Lakso, which got her interested in writing.
Agents at the William Morris Agency suggested her secretarial position led to her early acting roles.
[THE GIRL FROM U.N.C.L.E: Leigh Chapman Also Can Write--and Sell--Her Scripts...
Korman, Seymour. Chicago Tribune 19 June 1965: d3.]
Hollywood beginnings
Chapman got interested in acting and began to take classes and do auditions. In April 1963, she joined the cast of a stage production of ''
Come Blow Your Horn
''Come Blow Your Horn'' is Neil Simon's first play, which premiered on Broadway in 1961 and had a London production in 1962 at the Prince of Wales Theatre. Simon rewrote the script more than two dozen times over several years, resulting in a hit ...
''. She began to get television work, appearing in episodes of ''
The Eleventh Hour'', ''
McHale's Navy
''McHale's Navy'' is an American sitcom starring Ernest Borgnine that aired 138 half-hour episodes over four seasons, from October 11, 1962, to April 12, 1966, on the American Broadcasting Company, ABC television network. The series was filmed i ...
'', ''
Burke's Law'', and ''
Ripcord'' as well as the feature ''
Law of the Lawless'' (1963). She had another stage success when she joined the cast of a production of ''
Under the Yum Yum Tree
''Under the Yum Yum Tree'' is a 1963 American sex comedy film directed by David Swift and starring Jack Lemmon, Carol Lynley, Dean Jones, and Edie Adams, with Imogene Coca, Paul Lynde, and Robert Lansing. The film received two Golden Globe ...
'' in early 1964. She appeared in ''
Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre
''Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre'' is an American anthology series, sponsored by Chrysler, which ran on NBC from 1963 through 1967. The show was hosted by Bob Hope, but it had a variety of formats, including musical, dramatic, and comed ...
'', ''
Combat!
''Combat!'' is an American television drama that originally aired on ABC from 1962 until 1967. The exclamation point in ''Combat!'' was depicted on-screen as a stylized bayonet. The show covered the grim lives of a squad of American soldiers ...
'', ''
Dr. Kildare
Dr. James Kildare is a fictional American medical doctor, originally created in the 1930s by the author Frederick Schiller Faust under the pen name Max Brand. Shortly after the character's first appearance in a magazine story, Paramount Pictur ...
'', and ''
The Wild Wild West
''The Wild Wild West'' is an American Western (genre), Western, spy film, spy, and science fiction on television, science fiction television series that ran on the CBS television network for four seasons from September 17, 1965, to April 11, 19 ...
''.
Chapman wanted to write and did a "spec" episode of ''Burke's Law'' which they liked and bought, launching her writing career.
She wrote several episodes of the show.
Chapman wrote the feature ''
A Swingin' Summer
''A Swingin' Summer'' is a 1965 comedy film in the beach party genre. It was directed and co-written by Robert Sparr. Raquel Welch stars in her first featured film role and makes her singing debut in the film.
Plot
A trio of college kids – ...
'' (1965). She then was signed to write three features for writer-producer Norman Maurer's unit at Columbia, ''20,000 Bikinis Under the Sea'', ''That Loving Feeling'' and ''It’s a Tuf Life'', but the beach party fad ended before any were produced.
She alternated between acting and writing, having a semiregular role on ''
The Man from U.N.C.L.E.
''The Man from U.N.C.L.E.'' is an American spy fiction television series produced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Television and first broadcast on NBC. The series follows secret agents Napoleon Solo, played by Robert Vaughn, and Illya Kuryakin, p ...
'', playing the secretary of
Napoleon Solo
Napoleon Solo is a fictional character from the 1960s TV spy series '' The Man from U.N.C.L.E.'' The series format was notable for pairing the American Solo, played by Robert Vaughn, and the Russian Illya Kuryakin, played by David McCallum, a ...
.
She also appeared in ''
Iron Horse
''Iron horse'' is a pervasive term (considered by the early twenty-first century to be transitioning into an archaic reference) for a steam locomotive and the railway on which it travels, originating in the early 1800s, when horses still powered ...
'', ''
Occasional Wife
''Occasional Wife'' is an American sitcom that aired on NBC from September 13, 1966 until August 29, 1967.
Plot
Peter Christopher is a New York bachelor who enjoys the single life but is blocked in his professional advancement without a wife. ...
'', ''
The Professionals'' (in 1966), and ''
The Monkees
The Monkees were an American pop rock band formed in Los Angeles in the mid-1960s. The band consisted of Micky Dolenz, Davy Jones (musician), Davy Jones, Michael Nesmith, and Peter Tork. Spurred by the success of ''The Monkees (TV series), Th ...
''. She wrote episodes of ''
My Favorite Martian
''My Favorite Martian'' is an American sitcom that aired on CBS from September 29, 1963, to May 1, 1966, for 107 episodes. The show stars Ray Walston as "Uncle Martin" (the Martian) and Bill Bixby as Tim O'Hara. ''My Favorite Martian'' was th ...
'', ''
Mission: Impossible'', and ''
The Wild Wild West
''The Wild Wild West'' is an American Western (genre), Western, spy film, spy, and science fiction on television, science fiction television series that ran on the CBS television network for four seasons from September 17, 1965, to April 11, 19 ...
''. She said "I loved doing ''Wild Wild West'' because it was outrageous. The guy I always had the story conferences with, Henry Sharp, he was so much fun, and lively."
She remembered on ''Mission Impossible'' "at the end, the, quote, clever thing was that the villains were at point A and trying to get to point B, and you wanted them to go to point C, and so you just switched the road signs and they ended up at point C."
In 1967 she wrote ''Kings X'' for producer
Albert S. Ruddy.
She helped write the pilot ''Where the Girls Are'' (1968), and appeared in ''Land's End'', with
Desi Arnaz
Desiderio Alberto Arnaz y de Acha III (March 2, 1917 – December 2, 1986), known as Desi Arnaz, was a Cuban-American actor, musician, producer, and bandleader. He played Ricky Ricardo on the American television sitcom ''I Love Lucy'', in whi ...
, an experience she hated so much it made her decide to quit acting.
[She'd Rather Switch Than Starve Henniger, Paul. Los Angeles Times 2 June 1967: d28.]
She wrote episodes of ''
It Takes a Thief'', and ''
Mod Squad
Mod, MOD or mods may refer to:
Places
* Modesto City–County Airport, Stanislaus County, California, US
Arts, entertainment, and media Music
* Mods (band), a Norwegian rock band
* M.O.D. (Method of Destruction), a band from New York City, US
* ...
''. She did the unproduced feature ''Occam’s Razor'' (1969) for a company she formed with Harley Hatcher: Har-Leigh. The film was not made.
She also was mentored by
Howard Hawks
Howard Winchester Hawks (May 30, 1896December 26, 1977) was an American film director, Film producer, producer, and screenwriter of the Classical Hollywood cinema, classic Hollywood era. Critic Leonard Maltin called him "the greatest American ...
.
"Plot, or structure, really, is my weakness," she said later. "But dialogue is my strong suit."
Chapman then decided to live in Hawaii for a year.
Action films
When she returned from Hawaii, she decided to focus on features. Chapman wrote an early treatment for ''
Truck Turner
''Truck Turner'', also known as ''Black Bullet'', is a 1974 American blaxploitation film, starring Isaac Hayes and Yaphet Kotto, and directed by Jonathan Kaplan. The screenplay was written by Michael Allin, Leigh Chapman (under a pseudonym, J ...
'' (1974). She wrote the unproduced ''Blackfather'' (1974) for producer Norman T. Herman.
She was hired to rewrite the script for ''Pursuit'' which became ''
Dirty Mary Crazy Larry'' (1974), a huge success. She also wrote ''
How Come Nobody's on Our Side?'' (1974).
She sold ''Detroit Boogie'' (1974), a spec script, to
Dino De Laurentiis
Agostino "Dino" De Laurentiis (; 8 August 1919 – 10 November 2010) was an Italian film producer and businessman who held both Italian and American citizenship. Following a brief acting career in the late 1930s and early 1940s, he moved into f ...
, and did the prison film ''The Tin Walls'' (1975) for
Robert Ellis Miller
Robert Ellis Miller (July 18, 1927 – January 27, 2017) was an American film director.
Filmography
* '' Breaking Point'' (1963) – TV Series
* '' Any Wednesday'' (1966)
* '' Sweet November'' (1968)
* ''The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter'' (196 ...
. Neither was made.
Chapman later said she drifted to action films because there were "just my temperament. I couldn’t write a romantic comedy or a chick flick or a love story if my life
epended on it I mean, I could write a love story, but it would have to be like a Casablanca type of love story, and some people would have to die. I mean, I daresay, if I analyze this – and I have – growing up the way I did, that my alter ego is male. Because I decided very early on that guys got to have all the fun. I mean, women, what did they do? They fall in love, they get married, they have kids. There are exceptional women in this world, yes there are. But when I was growing up, they were just totally boring...I like larger-than-life characters who do dangerous, heroic things. And that, to me, means men."
Chapman wrote some scripts in the late 1970s — ''The Laconia Incident'' (1977), ''Felonious Laughter'' (1978), ''Rhintestone Heights'' and ''Motordrome Project'' (1980) — that were not filmed.
She wrote scripts for ''
Steel
Steel is an alloy of iron and carbon that demonstrates improved mechanical properties compared to the pure form of iron. Due to steel's high Young's modulus, elastic modulus, Yield (engineering), yield strength, Fracture, fracture strength a ...
'' (1979), and ''
Boardwalk
A boardwalk (alternatively board walk, boarded path, or promenade) is an elevated footpath, walkway, or causeway typically built with wooden planks, which functions as a type of low water bridge or small viaduct that enables pedestrians to ...
'' (1979).
She wrote the story and script for ''
The Octagon The Octagon may refer to:
*The Octagon, Christchurch, a former church in the central city of Christchurch, New Zealand
*The Octagon, Dunedin, the city centre of Dunedin, New Zealand
*The Octagon (Egypt), the headquarters of the Egyptian Ministry of ...
'' (1980) with
Chuck Norris
Carlos Ray "Chuck" Norris (born March 10, 1940) is an American martial artist and actor. Born in Oklahoma, Norris first gained fame when he won the amateur Middleweight Karate champion title in 1968, which he held for six consecutive years. H ...
. She wrote the script for ''
King of the Mountain'' (1981) and did an uncredited rewrite on ''
...All the Marbles'' (1981). In 1982, she pitched an idea for a female remake of ''
The Fountainhead
''The Fountainhead'' is a 1943 novel by Russian-American author Ayn Rand, her first major literary success. The novel's protagonist, Howard Roark, is an intransigent young architect who battles against conventional standards and refuses to com ...
'', but it was not made.
Chapman wrote ''
Impulse
Impulse or Impulsive may refer to:
Science
* Impulse (physics), in mechanics, the change of momentum of an object; the integral of a force with respect to time
* Impulse noise (disambiguation)
* Specific impulse, the change in momentum per unit ...
'' (1990), directed by
Sondra Locke
Sandra Louise Anderson (née Smith; May 28, 1944 – November 3, 2018), professionally known as Sondra Locke, was an American actress and director.
An alumna of Middle Tennessee State University, Locke broke into regional show business with ass ...
and produced by Ruddy. She wrote ''
Storm and Sorrow''(1990), based on her own novel. In the early 1990s, she wrote a script for
Jean-Claude Van Damme
Jean-Claude Camille François Van Varenberg (, ; born 18 October 1960), known professionally as Jean-Claude Van Damme (, ), is a Belgian martial artist and actor. Born and raised in Brussels, his father enrolled him in a Shotokan karate schoo ...
that was not made.
Chapman wrote the pilot for ''
Walker, Texas Ranger
''Walker, Texas Ranger'' is an American action fiction, action Crime drama, crime television series created by Leslie Greif and Paul Haggis. It was inspired by the film ''Lone Wolf McQuade'', with both the film and the series starring Chuck Norr ...
'' (1993) but had an unhappy experience and left the show after only writing a few episodes. She did an early draft of what became ''
An Eye for an Eye'' (1996.
[Vigilante novel to befilmed: ]inal Edition Inal may refer to:
* Inal (name), both a given name and a surname
*Inal Nekhu also known as Inal the Great, Circassian king
* İnal, Osmancık
* Inal, Mauritania, a village and rural commune in Mauritania
* Beylik of İnal, small principality in ea ...
The Province; Vancouver, B.C. ancouver, B.C5 Aug 1993: B5.
Chapman appeared in the 2001 television film ''
After the Storm''.
Later life and death
Chapman picked up
underwater photography
Underwater photography is the practice of capturing images beneath the surface of the water, often done while scuba diving, but can also be done while diving on surface supply, snorkeling, swimming, from a submersible or remotely operated und ...
during her later life. An exhibition of her aquatic photographs was held at Calumet Photography in Hollywood in 2011.
Chapman died at her home in West Hollywood on November 4, 2014, at the age of 75. She had been diagnosed with cancer eight months before.
She never remarried, but among the men she dated were
Robert Vaughn
Robert Francis Vaughn (November 22, 1932 – November 11, 2016) was an American actor and political activist, whose career in film, television and theater spanned nearly six decades and who was best known for his role as secret agent Nap ...
and
Harlan Ellison
Harlan Jay Ellison (May 27, 1934 – June 28, 2018) was an American writer, known for his prolific and influential work in New Wave science fiction, New Wave speculative fiction and for his outspoken, combative personality. His published wo ...
.
Television
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Chapman, Leigh
1939 births
2014 deaths
American television actresses
Television writers from California
Winthrop University alumni
People from West Hollywood, California
People from Kannapolis, North Carolina
20th-century American actresses
Screenwriters from North Carolina
American women television writers
American women screenwriters
21st-century American women