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Peggy Chantler Dick | |
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Born | Peggy Chantler March 1, 1923 |
Died | November 20, 2001 | (aged 78)
Cause of death | Cardiac failure[1] |
Alma mater | Northwestern University |
Occupation(s) | Television writer, radio writer |
Years active | c. 1950–1981 |
Television | The Adventures of Superman Dennis the Menace Hazel The Courtship of Eddie's Father |
Spouse | Douglas Dick (m. 1963-2001) |
Peggy Chantler Dick was a prolific American television writer who has worked on a number of popular television series throughout the 1950s and 1960s, including The Adventures of Superman, Dennis the Menace, Hazel, and The Courtship of Eddie's Father. She often worked with her long-time writing partner William Cowley.
Born Peggy Chantler, March 1, 1923 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Dick graduated from Northwestern University. Soon afterward, she became an apprentice writer on the Edgar Bergen Radio Comedy Hour.[2] Later she was a production assistant at the Norman Lear Co.[2][1] In 1950, the Daily Variety noted that she was writing a radio script for Yetta Zwerling, an actress and comedian of the Yiddish theater.[3]
Starting with its 1955 third season, the groundbreaking television series The Adventures of Superman, took on a more whimsical, lighthearted tone more typical of the comic book than the violent, noir-like style of the first two seasons.[4]: 228 Looking for that lighter touch, story editor Mort Weisinger bought Dick's first television script for the episode "Superman Week".[5] She went on to pen three other episodes: "Disappearing Lois" (co-written with her brother David Chantler[4]: 238 ), "The Phony Alibi", and "Mr. Zero".
Dick was nominated in 1981 for a Humanitas Prize along with Cynthia Whitcomb for the television movie Leave 'Em Laughing.[6]