Stephen Lodge (February 6, 1943 – February 26, 2017) was an American author, television screenwriter and actor; also a former costumer and stuntman to the industry. He was born in the Long Beach area of California, United States.

Early and professional life

Lodge was the co-writer of the Kenny Rogers Western epic, the 1993 CBS TV movie ''Rio Diablo'', co-starring Travis Tritt, Naomi Judd and Stacy Keach. His first major screenwriting credit was for the United Artists feature '' The Honkers'' starring

James Coburn James Harrison Coburn III (August 31, 1928 – November 18, 2002) was an American film and television actor who was featured in more than 70 films, largely action roles, and made 100 television appearances during a 45-year career.AllmoviBi ...

. Soon afterwards, he was writing, producing and directing the film, ''One Block Away'' – this was co-written by Hoke Howell, who also acted in it. Another of Lodge's films, '' Kingdom of the Spiders'', starring Star Trek's William Shatner, aired regularly on cable television in the 1990s. Lodge grew up watching "B" Westerns, and his ambition from early on was to become an actor when he was older. He was able to visit movie sets as a youth, and was in awe of the experience. When he was 10, he was presented with an

8mm 8 mm or 8mm may refer to: ;Film technology *8 mm film, a photographic cine film format principally intended for domestic use. The term may also refer to later variants: ** Super 8 mm film ** Single-8 film ** 8 mm video format, a type of video record ...

movie camera for his birthday. This encouraged him to write, direct and act in his own

amateur An amateur () is generally considered a person who pursues an avocation independent from their source of income. Amateurs and their pursuits are also described as popular, informal, autodidacticism, self-taught, user-generated, do it yourself, DI ...

productions. He started professional acting at 12 years old, and by the age of 16 he had appeared at

Hollywood Hollywood usually refers to: * Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California * Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States Hollywood may also refer to: Places United States * Hollywood District (disambiguation) * Hollywood, ...

's famous Corriganville Western movie ranch. When his time at college ended, he was employed by Columbia Pictures, where, among other things, he was an assistant to the associate producer on the 1963 TV series '' Camp Runamuck''. He also gained media experience as a costumer for numerous productions, notably the classic 1963 TV series '' The Fugitive''.

Later life

Lodge lived in

Rancho Mirage Rancho Mirage is a city in Riverside County, California, United States. The population was 17,218 at the 2010 census, up from 13,249 at the 2000 census, but the seasonal (part-time) population can exceed 20,000. Incorporated in 1973 and locate ...

, California, near Palm Springs, with his wife Beth and their two dogs. Since moving to the desert he wrote, produced and directed a 90-minute TV special, ''Bordello''; authored several articles for various

magazine A magazine is a periodical publication, generally published on a regular schedule (often weekly or monthly), containing a variety of content. They are generally financed by advertising, purchase price, prepaid subscriptions, or by a combinatio ...

s; and completed additional

screenplay ''ScreenPlay'' is a television drama anthology series broadcast on BBC2 between 9 July 1986 and 27 October 1993. Background After single-play anthology series went off the air, the BBC introduced several showcases for made-for-television, fe ...

s, including adaptations of his novels, ''Shadows of Eagles'', ''Charley Sunday's Texas Outfit!'', and ''Nickel-Plated Dream''.Biographical Detail
of Stephen Lodge at IMDb.com.

References

External links

Stephen Lodge
general biography at ''AuthorsDen.com'' * - acting credits * - miscellaneous credits
Profile
at Amazon.com
Behind-the-scenes production photos
Collection of Stephen Lodge. {{DEFAULTSORT:Lodge, Stephen 1943 births 2017 deaths American television writers American male television writers Screenwriters from California