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John Furia Jr. (1929 – May 7, 2009) was an American television writer, whose credits included Bonanza, Hotel (co-developed with Barry Oringer), Hawaii Five-O, The Twilight Zone, Kung Fu, The Waltons and Dr. Kildare.

Furia graduated from Fordham University (where he participated in variety shows as a singer and actor) with a degree in Constitutional history. Then he started writing for Playhouse 90, the DuPont Show of the Month, and Climax! After moving to California, he became a freelance writer for TV and movies, and also worked in production. Besides the aforementioned shows, he wrote for The Alcoa Hour, Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre, and Espionage. One of his most successful screenplays was The Singing Nun. He was offered positions as story editor several times, but declined them because they would have interfered with his writing work, until Jerry Thorpe asked him to become the story editor of Kung Fu.

Furia was elected President of the Writers Guild of America, West (WGA) from 1973 until 1975. He also served on the Writers Guild of America's board of directors for two terms. Furia co-chaired the WGA's negotiating committee on several occasions, including for the WGA's 2004 negotiations.

Furia received several honors from the WGA for his work, including the Morgan Cox, Valentine Davies and Edmund H. North awards for "leadership and guild service."

Additionally, Furia was a professor and director of film writing at the University of Southern California's School of Cinema and Television.

Furia died on May 7, 2009, at the age of 79.

References

1. ^ "John Furia, Jr. 1929-2009". WGA. Archived from the original on 2009-06-06. Retrieved 2009-05-09.
2. Hollywood writer John Furia Jr. dies at age 79
3. ^ McNary, Dave (2009-05-08). "Former WGA West president dies". Variety. Retrieved 2009-05-09.
4. Jerome, Phil (1950-03-09). "Fordham's answer to Berle: Farley MC's FM Variety". The Fordham Ram. New York. Retrieved June 14, 2021.
5. "Espionage". IMDb. 2021. Retrieved June 14, 2021.
6. Shirota, Jon (May 1973). "Love and Peace Once a Week [Includes portrait]". Black Belt Magazine.

External links

• John Furia Jr. at IMDb

• 1929 births
• 2009 deaths
• American male screenwriters
• American television writers
• University of Southern California faculty
• Writers Guild of America
• Writers Guild of America board of directors
• American male television writers
• Screenwriters from California
• 20th-century American male writers
• 20th-century American screenwriters