About Steve Shagan

Stephen H. Shagan (October 25, 1927[1] – November 30, 2015) was an American novelist, screenwriter, and television and film producer.

Shagan was born in Brooklyn, New York to Rachel (née Rosenzweig) and Barnard H. "Barney" Shagan. Barney ran a pharmacy, Shagan's Pharmacy, at 49 Atlantic Avenue, Brooklyn, New York, with his brother, Samuel. After Barney's death the pharmacy went bankrupt and Samuel liquidated the assets at public auction in 1949.[4] Steve dropped out of high school and joined the United States Coast Guard when World War II broke out. While in the Coast Guard, he started writing to pass the time.[2]

Shagan came to Hollywood in 1958 with his wife,[5] Elizabeth Florance "Betty" Ricker, whom he married on November 18, 1956, in New York City.[3] At first he did odd jobs, for example working as a stagehand at a little theater and pulling cables at MGM Studios in the middle of the night. Eventually he started working on scripts and then produced the Tarzan television show on location in Mexico. Betty talked him into quitting and concentrating on writing.[5] Betty, a former fashion model, was the daughter of Philomena (née Pisano) and Al Ricker. Her mother, a dancer, later remarried, to Mayo J. Duca, a Boston jazz trumpet Philomena Pisano was the daughter of Katherine "Kitty" Bingham and Fred Anthony Pisano, of the musical-comedy vaudeville team of Pisano and Bingham.