Oliver Crawford Oliver Crawford , born Oliver Kaufman , was an Emmy Award - nominated television writer and author who contributed to three episodes of . He first wrote the story and co - wrote the teleplay for the first season episode along with S . Bar - David . He later wrote the teleplay for ( based on Lee Cronin ' s outline " Down from Heaven " ) and co - wrote the story for with David Gerrold ( based on Gerrold ' s outline " Castles in the Sky " ) . Both of these episodes were part of the show ' s third season . Personal information . Crawford was born in Chicago , Illinois , and attended the Chicago Art Institute and the Goodman Theater . He died in Los Angeles , California , on 24 September 2008 . He was 91 years old . He was survived by two daughters and a son . Early career and the blacklist . He was among the many Hollywood writers who fell victim to the infamous blacklist of the 1950s , and one of the few to recover in their careers when it was over . At the time he was contacted by the House Un - American Activities Committee in 1953 , Crawford was just starting his writing career . He had written for several television programs , including " Terry and the Pirates " , " Climax ! " , and " Kraft Television Theatre " . He also co - wrote the story for the 1953 western film " The Man from Alamo " and co - wrote a segment of the anthological 1954 film " The Steel Cage " . His segment , entitled " The Hostages , " starred Lawrence Tierney . Crawford was blacklisted after refusing to reveal names of suspected Communists . He then moved to New York with his family and took a variety of jobs . He returned to the writing business in 1957 when his actor friend got him a job as a writer on the CBS anthology series " Playhouse 90 " . Post - blacklisting career . During the 1950s , soon after rebounding from the blacklist , Crawford received Emmy Award nominations for his work on the series " Climax ! " and " The Lineup " . He wrote for several other shows , as well , including three episodes of " Rawhide " , on of which featured Harry Townes and Garry Walberg ) . His writing credits during the 1960s included " Bonanza " ( two episodes , including one featuring Ken Lynch ) , " Ben Casey " ( five episodes , including one featuring Tom Troupe and another with Barbara Luna ) , " The Fugitive " ( three episodes , including one with Gene Lyons ) , " Gilligan ' s Island " ( an episode directed by Lawrence Dobkin ) , " The Wild Wild West " ( two episodes , including one with Antoinette Bower , and " I Spy " ( an episode with Roger C . Carmel ) . He was nominated by the Writers Guild of America for writing a 1964 episode of " The Outer Limits " entitled " The Special One , " which was directed by Gerd Oswald and featured Jason Wingreen . Other genre shows he wrote for , in addition to " Star Trek " , included " Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea " ( which starred Arch Whiting ) and " Land of the Giants " ( which starred Don Marshall ) . Some of the other television shows he worked on during the 1960s were " The Rifleman " ( which starred John Hoyt ) and " Here Come the Brides " ( which starred Mark Lenard and David Soul ) . During the 1970s , he contributed scripts to such television series as " Mannix " ( including an episode which featured Anthony Zerbe ) , " Petrocelli " ( which starred Susan Howard ) , " Ironside " ( an episode which featured Davis Roberts ) , " The Bionic Woman " , and " Kojak " . In 1978 , Crawford wrote a novel called " The Execution " . He adapted this novel into a made - for - TV movie in 1985 . Robert Hooks , Allan Miller , and Alan Oppenheimer were among the cast members in the movie . Crawford served on the Writers Guild of America ' s board of directors for 26 years . He lobbied to remove the anti - communist loyalty oath from the guild ' s membership application . He also worked with the guild to provide financial restitution to victims of the blacklist . The Writers Guild awarded Crawford with two Morgan Cox Awards , one in 1983 and another in 1997 . He received the latter as part of the Writers Guild of America West ' s Property Planning Committee ; he shared the award with six other writers , including D . C . Fontana .