Gene L. Coon

Gene L. Coon was an American screenwriter and television producer. He is best remembered for his work on the original Star Trek series.

Often referred to as 'the forgotten Gene' (a reference to Gene Roddenberry), Gene Lee Coon was one of the most important creative minds behind "Star Trek" (1966). He is credited with inventing the Klingons and the 'Prime Directive', and with developing the interpersonal dynamics between Spock and McCoy (in particular, the invariably humorous verbal banter). He established the enlightened image of the Federation and often ended episodes with an anti-war allegory. A robust-looking, heavy-set man possessed of seemingly boundless creative energy, Coon was a prodigious reader and an immensely focused writer of prolific output. It was said, that he authored his novels and teleplays by assuming a state of near self-hypnosis, which he himself called 'automatic writing'. In one instance, he managed to produce the script for the Star Trek episode "The Devil in the Dark" in the course of a single weekend. Either as writer, or line producer, Coon had extensive, often critical input into some of the show's best-loved episodes, including "Arena", "Space Seed", "A Taste of Armageddon" , "The City of the Edge of Forever" (generally regarded as the best of the series), "Mirror, Mirror" and "The Doomsday Machine". He left Star Trek in March 1968, likely the result of personality clashes with members of the cast (in fact, Coon had a reputation for not getting along with actors in general), but continued to write several more episodes under the pseudonym 'Lee Cronin' in order to fulfill his contract with Paramount.

The Nebraskan-born Coon had served in the U.S. Marine Corps for four years from 1942. He had seen action in the Pacific and was later stationed in Japan as part of the occupying forces. He was subsequently posted for eight months to northern China, where he published a small English language newspaper. As a member of the Marine Corps Reserves, he returned to active duty during the Korean War, from 1950 to 1952. Upon his demobilisation, Coon found work first as a radio newscaster before turning to free-lance writing. From 1956, he was primarily involved in scripting teleplays for popular western and action shows like "Dragnet" (1951),"Wagon Train" (1957), "Maverick" (1957) and "Bonanza" (1959). At Universal in the early 60's, he turned "McHale's Navy" (1962) from a one-hour drama into a successful 30-minute sitcom. Together with the writer Les Colodny, Coon floated the idea for "The Munsters" (1964) as a satirical spin-off from "The Donna Reed Show" (1958) to MCA chairman Lew Wasserman. The result was yet another hit show. After Star Trek, Coon worked as writer/producer on "It Takes a Thief" (1968), while at the same time founding one of the first 'cartridge TV' video companies, UniTel Associates, with Colodny as executive vice president.

A chain smoker for most of his life, the man whom fellow writer/producer Glen A. Larson referred to as 'the spirit and soul of Star Trek', died of lung and throat cancer one week after being diagnosed, in July 1973, aged just 49.