Michael Sloan

Michael Sloan
Role:	Writer, Producer
BSG Universe:	Original Series
Date of Birth:	October 14, 1946
Date of Death:	August 13, 2025
Age at Death:	78
Nationality:	USA
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IMDb profile

Michael Fred Sloan (October 14, 1946 – August 13, 2025) was an American screenwriter and television producer best known as co-creator of the television series The Equalizer. He wrote and produced episodes for the Original Series, serving as supervising producer during the show's production.

Early Life and Family Background

Sloan was born into a show business family in New York City on October 14, 1946. His grandfather, Fred Stone, was a vaudeville performer who played the Scarecrow in the 1902 Broadway production of The Wizard of Oz. His parents, Paula Stone and Michael Sloane, were Broadway stage producers who mounted numerous plays throughout the 1940s and 1950s. Their Broadway productions included The Red Mill, Top Banana, and Rumple.

Sloan's extended family included several notable performers. His cousin was Keenan Wynn, the character actor seen in many films throughout a storied career. Another cousin was Milburn Stone, who played Doc Adams on the long-running television series Gunsmoke.

The family moved to London when Sloan was young. It was there that he later began to write and produce feature films.

Career

Early Film Work

Sloan moved to England where he wrote and produced his first three films: a 1972 short titled Hunted and two features titled Assassin and Moments, released in 1973 and 1974, respectively. All three films were distributed by Columbia/Warner Bros.

Breakthrough with Columbo

While still living in England, Sloan wrote an episode of Columbo for Universal Television. In 1976, Sloan returned to America where he wrote an acclaimed episode of Columbo titled "Now You See Him." The episode, from the show's fifth season, was widely praised and effectively launched his career in American television. It was the series' only episode ever written by a freelancer.

Universal Television

Sloan returned to the United States in 1974. Before landing his job at Universal, he wrote seven episodes of the Warner Bros. television series Harry O starring David Janssen.

When Sloan landed his first studio job at Universal, he worked for Glen A. Larson and wrote and produced episodes of several series including McCloud starring Dennis Weaver, Quincy, M.E. starring Jack Klugman, The Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew Mysteries starring Shaun Cassidy, Parker Stevenson and Pamela Sue Martin, Evening in Byzantium starring Glenn Ford, Sword of Justice starring Dack Rambo, Battlestar Galactica starring Lorne Greene, Richard Hatch and Dirk Benedict, and BJ and the Bear starring Greg Evigan. He earned an Emmy nomination for his work on Quincy, M.E.

Battlestar Galactica

Sloan served as supervising producer on the Original Series. He co-wrote the teleplay for the two-part episode "The Gun on Ice Planet Zero" with Donald P. Bellisario and Glen A. Larson, based on a story treatment by John Ireland.

Sloan was also story editor on McCloud (1977) and supervising producer on both The Hardy Boys Mysteries and The Nancy Drew Mysteries (1977-79).

MTM Studios and Return to Universal

Sloan left Universal to work at MTM Studios in the 1980s. At MTM, he wrote and produced Riviera starring Ben Masters, Patrick Bauchau and Elyssa Davalos, directed by John Frankenheimer.

The Equalizer and Later Work

While on loan back to Universal Studios, Sloan co-created The Equalizer with Richard Lindheim and wrote and produced the pilot for CBS. The Edward Woodward-starring crime series aired on CBS in 1985 and ran for four seasons.

Back at MTM Studios, Sloan created and wrote and produced the television series The Master starring Lee Van Cleef and Timothy Van Patten. He also served as show runner on both The Master and BJ & The Bear.

Sloan returned to Universal Studios where he wrote and produced The Return of the Man from U.N.C.L.E. (1983) television movie starring Robert Vaughn, David McCallum and Patrick Macnee. He also wrote and produced three television movies based on The Six Million Dollar Man and The Bionic Woman series starring Lee Majors, Lindsay Wagner and Richard Anderson.

Before leaving his second tour of duty at Universal Studios, Sloan produced forty-one new episodes of The New Alfred Hitchcock Presents (1985), most of which he also wrote. These episodes starred such television names as Lindsay Wagner, Robert Carradine, David Cassidy, Van Johnson, Rory Calhoun, Melissa Sue Anderson, Anthony Newley, Robert Lansing, Edward Woodward, Jean Simmons, Doug McClure, Eli Wallach and Mike Connors.

Sloan wrote and produced the feature film The Caller for Empire Pictures starring Malcolm McDowell and Madolyn Smith. He wrote and produced 88 episodes of the television series Kung Fu: The Legend Continues for Warner Bros. Television starring David Carradine and Chris Potter. He wrote and produced the television movie Earthquake in New York starring Greg Evigan, Cynthia Gibb, Michael Sarrazin and Michael Moriarty. He also wrote and produced the television movie Freefall starring Jaclyn Smith.

Sloan created the television series Mystery Woman for the Hallmark Channel which resulted in ten television movies over the period of several years.

While in Canada, Sloan wrote and produced the television series Call of the Wild starring Nick Mancuso, Shane Meier and Rachel Hayward for Animal Planet. He was executive producer on The Outer Limits (2000-).

Sloan wrote and produced three feature films for Kirk Shaw's Insight Films and Odyssey Media in Canada, including Max Havoc: Ring of Fire starring Mickey Hardt, Alien Agent starring Mark Dacascos and Art of War II: Betrayal, starring Wesley Snipes.

Sloan also wrote scripts for episodic shows including McCoy (2-hour NBC Mystery Wheel), La Femme Nikita, Baywatch Nights, Baywatch Hawaii, Pacific Blue, Police Academy, Switch and The Devlin Connection.

The Equalizer Franchise

Columbia Pictures rebooted The Equalizer franchise with a trilogy of films starring Denzel Washington between 2014 and 2023. Sloan served as a producer on all three films. In 2021, CBS rebooted the series on television starring Queen Latifah.

Writing and Theater

Beyond television and film, Sloan wrote the play Underground starring Raymond Burr, which premiered at the Royal Alexander Theater in Toronto and then moved to London's West End.

He wrote a series of Equalizer novels as well as a memoir titled One More Thing, Sir… about his experiences writing in Hollywood.

Over the course of his career, Sloan wrote and produced over 300 hours of prime time television.

Personal Life

It was while working on a 1989 episode of The New Alfred Hitchcock Presents that Sloan met actress Melissa Sue Anderson, a guest star on that week's episode. The couple married on March 17, 1990. Anderson was best known for starring in Little House on the Prairie in the 1970s and 1980s.

Death

Sloan died peacefully on August 13, 2025, in New York City. He was 78 years old. His death was announced by his family, which did not name a cause of death but noted that he passed away peacefully.

He was survived by his wife of 35 years, Melissa Sue Anderson, their two children, Piper and Griffin, and his sister, Judy. In lieu of flowers, the family requested that donations be made to the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) in honor of his deep love for animals.

References