# William Templeton (screenwriter)

William Pettigrew Templeton (7 June 1913 – 23 October 1973) was a Scottish playwright and screenwriter who contributed a string of episodic dramas for American prime time television during the Golden Age of Television in the 1950s and 1960s.

## Early life

At 20 Templeton wrote the one-act play The King's Spaniel, which ran at the Royal Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh. In 1937, his first three-act play Circus Murder, was picked up and produced by Jevan Brandon Thomas at the Theatre Royal, Glasgow, then exported to London by the producer Esme Church for a run at the West End's Noël Coward Theatre (1938) under the title The Painted Smile. Theatre critic W.A. Darlington of The Daily Telegraph called it a "cleverly created illusion." After being decommissioned from the RAF after World War II, Templeton wrote several West End plays in succession including:
* (1946) Exercise Bowler (Arts then transferred to the Scala Theatre) produced by Alec Clunes
* (1948) The Ivory Tower (The Vaudeville Theatre) produced by Charles B. Cochran
* (1950) You Won't Need the Halo (Arts Theatre) produced by Alec Clunes
* (1954) Keep in a Cool Place (Saville Theatre) produced by Jevan Brandon Thomas
Sunday Times theatre critic James Agate wrote that Exercise Bowler "has an immense amount to say, is inventive, brilliantly theatrical and magnificently laid out for actors." Templeton wrote the largely anti-war play under the pseudonym 'T. Atkinson,' a generic slang name for a British soldier at the time.

## Hollywood career

In the late 1940s, Templeton started to move away from theatre and began writing for film and television. In 1948, he contributed dialogue to Graham Greene's script for The Fallen Idol directed by Carol Reed based on the short story by Greene. The film won the 1949 BAFTA award for best British film. In 1950, Templeton's screenplay adaptation of the book All On A Summer’s Day by HLV Fletcher became the British crime thriller Double Confession directed by Ken Annakin, starring Peter Lorre. In television, Templeton contributed to several prime time series of the period, including: The Alcoa Hour (1954–57); The Untouchables (1960); the original Adventures of Robin Hood (1957) with Richard Greene; and the Westinghouse Desilu Playhouse anthology series broadcast by CBS from 1948 to 1958 and produced by Desi Arnez. In 1954, New York Times television critic Jack Gould wrote that Templeton's adaptation of George Orwell's dystopian novel, Nineteen Eighty-Four, "was a masterly adaptation that depicted with power and poignancy and terrifying beauty the end result of thought control."

## Personal life

Templeton married the Hungarian actress Elizabeth Getrude Esterházy on 22 September 1953 in Westport, Connecticut. Samuel Goldwyn Jr. was his best man. They were divorced in 1960. They had one child, Christopher. On 23 October 1973, Templeton died of cirrhosis at the age of 60 in Glasgow.

## Filmography

| Date | Series & Film Credits | Script and Episode |
| 1948 | The Fallen Idol (Film) | Additional dialogue by William Templeton (directed by Carol Reed) |
| 1948 | The Philco Television Playhouse (TV) | Episodic scriptwriter (1948–55) |
| 1950 | Double Confession (Film) | Screenplay |
| 1950 | Her Favourite Husband (Film) | Additional dialogue by William Templeton (Produced by Carlo Ponti) |
| 1950 | Midnight Episode (Film) | Film Script by William Templeton |
| 1950 | Robert Montgomery Presents (TV) | Episodic TV scriptwriter (1950–57) |
| 1950 | Sunday Night Theatre (TV) | BBC Live Teleplay: "The Ivory Tower" |
| 1951 | The Silent Village (TV) | BBC Live Teleplay (with Audrey Hepburn) |
| 1952 | Alliance for Peace | Documentary Script by William Templeton (narrated by Edward R. Murrow) |
| 1954 | Studio One (TV Series) | "Donovan's Brain," "Cardinal Mindzenty," "Prelude to Murder," "1984", "The Eddie Chapman Story." |
| 1954 | Full Circle (Animated Film) | Commentary Writer |
| 1955 | Mr. Finley's Feelings (Animation) | Narration Script by William Templeton |
| 1955 | Matinee Theatre (TV Series) | "Madame de Treymes," "Letter of Introduction," "The Tell-Tale Heart," "The Bottle Imp" (1955–58). |
| 1956 | The Man Called X (TV Series) | "For External Use Only." |
| 1956 | Goodyear Playhouse (TV) | "A Murder is Announced" (TV script adaptation from Agatha Christie short story). |
| 1957 | Hour of Mystery (TV series) | "The Bottled Imp." |
| 1957 | Sword of Freedom (TV Series) | "The Ambassador," "Marriage of Convenience," "The Eye of the Artist," "The Marionettes," "The Reluctant Duke," "The School," "The Ship." |
| 1957 | Overseas Press Club (TV) | "The Millionth Frenchman." |
| 1958 | The Alcoa Hour (TV Series) | "Mrs Gilling and the Skyscraper," "Protege," "The Archangel Harrigen." |
| 1959 | Five Fingers (TV Series) | "The Men with Triangle Heads." |
| 1959 | The School (TV) | BBC Live Teleplay. |
| 1959 | Westinghouse Desilu Playhouse (TV) | "Murder in Gratitude," "Perilous." |
| 1959 | Men Into Space (TV) | "Is there another Civilization?" "Moonquake." |
| 1960 | The Adventures of Robin Hood (TV) | "The Pharaoh Stones." |
| 1960 | The Untouchables (TV) | "A Seat on the Fence." |
| 1960 | Churchill - The Valiant Years (TV) | "Triumph in France" (narrated by Richard Burton). |
| 1960 | The Barbara Stanwyck Show (TV) | "No-One." |
| 1961 | Whiplash (TV Series) | "The Legacy." |
| 1961 | Checkmate (TV Series) | "State of Shock." |
| 1961 | The New Breed (TV Series) | "The Torch," "Cross the Little Line," "To None a Deadly Drug." |
| 1962 | Kraft Television Theatre (TV) | "Sound of Murder," "Dead on Nine." |
| 1962 | Fair Exchange (TV Series) | "Pilot," "Unfair Exchange." |
| 1962 | Alfred Hitchcock Presents (TV Series) | "The Matched Pair." |
| 1965 | The Flying Swan (TV Series) | "Trial Run," "The Streets." |
| 1967 | The Dream World of Harrison Marks | Documentary narrative script |
| 1967 | The Little One (Radio Drama) | BBC Saturday Night Theatre |
| 1971 | The Eagle's Lament (Documentary) | W. P. Templeton as Writer/Director |
| 1972 | The Distant Drummer (TV Series) | W. P. Templeton as Director (narrated by Paul Newman, Robert Mitchum & Rod Steiger) |