Rita Lakin ( Weisinger; January 24, 1930 – March 23, 2023) was an American screenwriter, active from around 1962 to 1981. She has credits for 474 produced television scripts spanning 30 productions. She was also a novelist and author of ''The Only Woman In The Room'', a memoir of her life as one of the first female show runners and one of the first women in television (released October 2015, Applause publishing). In fiction, Lakin created the Gladdy Gold Mystery seven-book series (published by

Bantam Books Bantam Books is an American publishing house owned entirely by parent company Random House, a subsidiary of Penguin Random House; it is an imprint of the Random House Publishing Group. It was formed in 1945 by Walter B. Pitkin Jr., Sidney B. K ...

), including ''Getting Old Is Murder'', ''Getting Old Is The Best Revenge'', and ''Getting Old Can Kill You''. Rita Weisinger was born in

The Bronx, New York The Bronx ( ) is the northernmost of the five boroughs of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the U.S. state of New York. It shares a land border with Westchester County to its north; to its south and west, the New York City bo ...

on January 24, 1930. She began writing regularly during the early 1960s for such television shows as '' The Doctors'', '' Dr. Kildare'' and '' Peyton Place''. In 1968, she began working as story editor and head writer of ''

The Mod Squad ''The Mod Squad'' is an American crime drama series, originally broadcast for five seasons on ABC from September 24, 1968, to March 1, 1973. It starred Michael Cole as Peter "Pete" Cochran, Clarence Williams III as Lincoln "Linc" Hayes, Pegg ...

''. In 1972, she created ''

The Rookies ''The Rookies'' is an American police procedural series created by Rita Lakin that originally aired on ABC from September 11, 1972, to March 30, 1976. It follows the exploits of three rookie police officers working in an unidentified city for ...

''. In 1977, she served as executive producer of the CBS TV adaptation of the 1954 film '' Executive Suite''. She wrote numerous "Movies of the Week" including '' Women in Chains'', and such miniseries as ''Strong Medicine'' and ''Voices of the Heart''. In 1981, she developed the TV series adaptation and served as show-runner of '' Flamingo Road''. In 1989, she co-created the medical drama '' Nightingales''. She also wrote or co-authored two original theatrical plays, ''No Language But a Cry'' and ''Saturday Night at Grossinger's''.

Personal life and death

Rita Weisinger was first married to Hank Lakin, who died from leukemia due to exposure to radiation in the Santa Susana SRE Nuclear Reactor meltdown (1959) in 1961. She was later married, from 1972 to 1980, to director-producer Robert Michael Lewis, who predeceased her. Rita Lakin died in

Novato, California Novato (Spanish language, Spanish for "Novatus") is a city in Marin County, California, United States, situated in the North Bay (San Francisco Bay Area), North Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area. At the 2020 United States census, 2020 c ...

, on March 23, 2023, at the age of 93. She was survived by her three children: Howard (b. 1952), Susan (b. 1956), and Gavin (b. 1960) and her four grandchildren: Alison, Megan, James, and Amara.

Awards

Rita Lakin won nominations and awards for her writing including the

Writers Guild of America Award The Writers Guild of America Awards is an award for film, television, and radio writing including both fiction and non-fiction categories given by the Writers Guild of America, East and Writers Guild of America West since 1949. Eligibility Th ...

, the

Edgar Allan Poe Award The Edgar Allan Poe Awards, popularly called the Edgars, are presented every year by the Mystery Writers of America which is based in New York City. Named after American writer Edgar Allan Poe (1809–1849), a pioneer in the genre, the awards honor ...

and the Avery

Hopwood Award The Hopwood Awards are a major scholarship program at the University of Michigan, founded by Avery Hopwood. Under the terms of the will of Avery Hopwood, a prominent American dramatist and member of the class of 1905 of the University of Michigan ...

from the

University of Michigan The University of Michigan (U-M, U of M, or Michigan) is a public university, public research university in Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest institution of higher education in the state. The University of Mi ...

.Official website
ritalakin.com; accessed November 29, 2014.

Books

Television

Rita Lakin wrote 464 episodes, eight movies of the week, and two miniseries, spanning 30 television productions. She was also the creator of the crime drama series ''

'' and the prime time soap '' Flamingo Road'', and co-creator, with Howard Lakin and Frank Furino, of the medical drama '' Nightingales'' produced by Aaron Spelling.IMDb profile
Accessed May 12, 2024.

References

External links

*
Rita Lakin papers
at th
American Heritage Center
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lakin, Rita 1930 births 2023 deaths 20th-century American dramatists and playwrights American mystery writers American soap opera writers University of Michigan alumni 20th-century American novelists 21st-century American novelists American women novelists American women mystery writers 20th-century American women writers Hopwood Award winners American women soap opera writers 21st-century American women writers