Paul Playdon

Paul Playdon
[[File:{{{image}}}|200px|Paul Playdon]]
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Portrays:	Writer
Date of Birth:	January 14, 1943
Date of Death:	May 12, 2023
Age at Death:	80
Nationality:	UK
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Paul Playdon (January 14, 1943―May 12,2023) was a British-American television writer and producer who contributed to the Original Series by co-writing the episode "The Young Lords."

Born in Birmingham, Warwickshire, England, Playdon enjoyed a career spanning several decades in American television, working on numerous prominent series in the spy, science fiction, and action genres.

Career

Playdon began his entertainment career as a child actor in the 1950s. His notable early work included an appearance in the Alfred Hitchcock Presents episode "The Glass Eye" in 1957, performing alongside Jessica Tandy and William Shatner.

Transitioning from acting to writing, Playdon established himself as a television writer-producer during the 1960s and 1970s. The British-born writer, just in his mid-twenties, had worked on the last season of Combat! and was freelancing when opportunity knocked. He served as story editor for Garrison's Gorillas from 1967 to 1968.

Mission: Impossible

Playdon's most significant television work came on the original Mission: Impossible series. In summer 1968, interim producer Robert E. Thompson was desperately interviewing writers after the sudden departure of producers William Read Woodfield and Allan Balter following their dispute with creator Bruce Geller. The day before Thompson left the show, he found the writer Mission needed: from Playdon's outline for what would become episode 62, "The Mind of Stefan Miklos," it was obvious that Playdon was perfect for the series.

By the time Playdon completed his first draft, Mission had a new producer: Stanley Kallis, who immediately made Playdon script consultant. Playdon recalled the sudden promotion: "It was really a surprise when Stan said, 'I'd like you to come on the show—tomorrow.' I did, and the next day I had to start writing the next script. They had nothing. The shelf was completely bare."

The situation Kallis and Playdon walked into that summer of 1968 was dire. Mission was peaking in the Nielsen top ten, but behind the scenes the show had a new producer, new head writer, and for a time no executive producer, as Bruce Geller flew to Hawaii. To Playdon fell the burden of producing the season's scripts and rewriting incoming material. He worked at a prodigious pace, writing twelve to fifteen pages a day with no time for story outlines, turning out a script a week until he collapsed from exhaustion in his office one late evening. During these frantic weeks, Playdon contributed the series' most intellectually brilliant and densely plotted episodes, notably "The Mind of Stefan Miklos" and "Live Bait," which he heavily rewrote.

Playdon became one of the series' most prolific and skilled writers, recognized alongside Laurence Heath and the team of Allan Balter and William Read Woodfield for delivering the show's most intricately plotted scripts. According to producer Stanley Kallis, Playdon was a dependable and talented writer whose scripts were consistently among the best work on any series he contributed to, though Kallis also noted that Playdon occasionally clashed with fellow writer Laurence Heath over script rewrites. Kallis believed Playdon could have joined Len Deighton and John le Carré as masters of the spy form, stating that Playdon was a very original writer who never approached Mission as a formula.

Playdon explained the challenge of writing for Mission: Impossible: "Getting through the first script was the hardest part, as hard as what Bruce had to do for the pilot. It wasn't just a case of working out different characters—he was establishing a very ritualistic pattern which would have to be continued in each show and became trademarks and catchphrases." He specialized in developing prolonged suspense scenes, explaining that the show worked best when the team had only four or five hours to complete their mission, with the clock set at the beginning packing the scripts with energy and tension.

The workload was relentless. For the remainder of the season, eighteen-hour production meetings and impromptu hallway gatherings were normal, with Playdon sometimes writing scripts during the meetings themselves.

Playdon served as script consultant for Year Four (1969-1970), working alongside producer Stanley Kallis and associate producer Barry Crane. After his eighteen-month trial by fire, Playdon finally lost his grip on the series while writing episode 90, "Time Bomb," which greatly disappointed him and led him to feel he'd completely lost touch with what Mission was all about.

Reflecting on his departure, Playdon explained: "At the time I was twenty-six, so there had been quite a catapult in my own personal career. I was being approached to write pilots, and to have people court you that way when you're that young is a little seductive, but it was also an opportunity I wanted. The education that I acquired in that year and a half on Mission would have been a ten-year education anywhere else." His only regret was his hasty departure before the season concluded, though he philosophically noted that "everyone who left that show left very suddenly."

Producer Roles

Playdon transitioned into producing roles on several series. He served as producer on Banacek and Cannon in the early 1970s.

Kolchak: The Night Stalker

In 1974, Playdon became the original producer of Kolchak: The Night Stalker, the supernatural investigation series starring Darren McGavin as reporter Carl Kolchak. However, Playdon left the series after only two episodes due to disagreements with McGavin, who served as executive producer. He was replaced by Cy Chermak, who had previously served as executive producer and producer on Ironside.

The Magician

Playdon served as executive producer on The Magician, starring Bill Bixby as stage illusionist Anthony Blake who used his talents to help people in trouble. The series reunited much of the creative team from Mission: Impossible, including producer Bruce Lansbury and writer Laurence Heath, who wrote the pilot. Despite being Playdon's first producing assignment, having previously worked exclusively as a writer on Mission: Impossible, the series faced significant challenges.

The production was hampered by a Writers Guild strike in spring 1973 that eliminated crucial preparation time before the series premiered in October. Writer Larry Brody, who joined the show during a staff shake-up, recalled that Playdon's approach was to emphasize fantastical villains rather than reality, though communication issues between the star and production staff hindered the series' potential. Despite these challenges and lasting only one season, The Magician would later be referenced by The X-Files creator Chris Carter as an influence and was worked into the origin story of FBI agent Fox Mulder.

Playdon retained his executive producer credit but was removed from active involvement after twelve episodes, although the show itself was cancelled after its first season.

Later Career

Throughout his career, Playdon wrote for numerous television series including The Wild Wild West, Cannon, Hawaii Five-O, Banacek, The Magician, Kolchak: The Night Stalker, and Switch. One of his memorable scripts for The Wild Wild West was "Night of the Janus," which featured the unusual line "I just came in to pick up my glockenspiel." Additionally, Playdon was credited as a developer for the popular series CHiPs.

Battlestar Galactica

In 1978, Playdon co-wrote "The Young Lords" for Battlestar Galactica alongside Donald P. Bellisario and Frank Lupo. The episode, which was also directed by Bellisario, aired on November 19, 1978. In the episode, Starbuck crash-lands on the planet Attila during a patrol mission and is captured by Cylons, only to be rescued by a group of child warriors fighting to save their father from Cylon garrison commander Specter.

Personal Life

Playdon relocated from the United Kingdom to the United States, where he built his television career. During his teenage years, he lived in Glendale, California.

Paul Playdon died on May 12, 2023, in Silicon Beach, Los Angeles, California, at the age of 80. His death was announced by friend Danny Biederman in a Facebook post.

References