John D. F. Black

A well-respected and busy writer during his heyday, John D.F. Wilson had a career marked by a great deal of variety across a number of genres. Although he primarily became known as a TV writer, his first credit was in film, specifically the 1957 horror feature"The Unearthly," starring John Carradine as an insane doctor performing longevity experiments on hospital patients. Wilson quickly shifted to the small screen after this, writing for several shows in the crime and Western veins, both ubiquitous genres at the time. He contributed scripts for FBI drama "The Untouchables" (1962) and horse opera "Laredo" (1965), among others. He took a giant step into outer space after this when he took the position of story editor on "Star Trek" (1966). Although his work was generally administrative, he did write one episode, "The Naked Time." Despite its later popularity, the series didn't last long and Wilson moved on to other productions. The busy writer did scripts for shows like "Hawaii Five-O" and "Mission: Impossible" (1968) during this period. Several years later, he wrote what would be the most enduring film associated with his name, the 1971 blaxploitation detective thriller "Shaft." His movie and TV work petered out in the late 1970s, although he returned to the Star Trek universe briefly when he penned two episodes of "Star Trek: The Next Generation" in 1987.