Screenwriter and playwright -- via the L.A. Times. After writing much for TV, his career took off when he created the original "Batman" series in 1966. He was equally adept at writing thrillers and dramas ("The Parallax View," "The Super Cops," "Papillon," "Never Say Never Again," "The Drowning Pool," "Three Days of the Condor") and "comic-book" films such as the De Laurentiis "King Kong," the 1980 "Flash Gordon," and "Sheena."
