Biography
Burt Prelutsky was an American television writer, newspaper columnist and author. Born Burton Prelutsky on 5 January 1940 in Chicago, he was raised in Los Angeles and graduated from Fairfax High School. He began his career as a film critic for the UCLA Daily Bruin and then for Los Angeles Magazine from 1961 to 1971, also writing a weekly column for the Los Angeles Times magazine West.
In television he wrote for Dragnet in the late 1960s and contributed eight episodes to MAS*H between 1975 and 1977. His other credits include McMillan & Wife, The Rockford Files, Newhart, Rhoda, Family Ties, Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman, Silk Stalkings and Diagnosis: Murder. He also wrote several television films, including Hobson's Choice (1983).
Prelutsky won a Writers Guild of America Award for Hobson's Choice and received nominations for an Edgar Allan Poe Award and a Humanitas Prize. He died on 17 December 2021 in North Hills, California.
