Biography
Robert E. Thompson was an American screenwriter and television producer. Born in Los Angeles, California, on 3 November 1924, he served in the US Army during the Second World War and graduated from Yale University. He began writing for live television dramas in the mid-1950s and contributed episodes to series including Bonanza, Have Gun – Will Travel and The Man from U.N.C.L.E..
Thompson wrote two episodes of Mission: Impossible in 1968, for which he also served as producer and script consultant. His feature screenplay for They Shoot Horses, Don't They? (1969), co-written with James Poe, earned an Academy Award nomination. He produced episodes of Rawhide and wrote television films such as The Trial of Lee Harvey Oswald (1977) and A Case of Rape (1974). Thompson died in Santa Monica, California, on 11 February 2004.
