Ernest Kinoy is one of U.S. television's most prolific and acclaimed writers. His career spans five decades, from the live anthology dramas of the 1950s to the made-for-television movies of the 1990s. His best­ known works, such as scripts for The Defenders and Roots, have dramatized social and historical issues. Outside of television, Kinoy is less well known than some of his contemporaries from the "Golden Age" of televi­sion, such as Mel Brooks and Paddy Chayefsky. Within the industry, however, Kinoy has always been recognized for his well-crafted television dramas. He has also written successfully for radio, film, and the stage.

     Kinoy wrote for many shows in the 1950s, including The Imogene Coca Show and The Marriage, a series featuring Hume Cronyn and Jessica Tandy. He was best known for contributing to such live anthology dramas as The DuPont Show of the Week, Studio One, and Playhouse 90. When the Federal Communications Commission held an inquiry into the decline of the live dramas, Kinoy and other writers offered damaging testimony about network unwillingness to broadcast "serious" drama. CBS, under scrutiny, resurrected a weighty dramatic series that would soon showcase Ki­noy's talents-The Defenders. Kinoy won two Emmy Awards writing for the series, which was created by his colleague Reginald Rose. The show followed two idealistic lawyers, a father and son, who confronted controversial issues and moral paradoxes on a weekly basis. In "Blacklist," one of Kinoy's most celebrated episodes, Jack Klugman played a blacklisted actor who finally received a serious part after ten years, only to be harassed by vehement anticommunists. In an­ other well-known Kinoy episode, "The Non-Violent," James Earl Jones played a black minister thrown in jail with a wealthy, white civil rights activist. Like Dr. Kildare, another series that Kinoy wrote for, The Defenders was sometimes described as a New Frontier character drama for its exploration of social ethics. During this same period, Kinoy also wrote for the series The Nurses and Route 66.

     In the 1970s, Kinoy shifted to made-for-television movies and feature films. He often had two or more scripts produced in a year. Notable accomplishments included Crawl Space (1972), a CBS movie about a family adopting a homeless man, and Buck and the Preacher (1972), an action-packed black western directed by Sidney Poitier for the big screen. Kinoy's television career took a new turn in 1976 when he wrote two docudramas for producer David L. Wolper: Victory at Entebbe, about the Israeli rescue operation in Uganda, and Collision Course, based on Harry Truman's struggles with Douglas MacArthur. Kinoy subsequently worked on Wolper's blockbuster docudrama Roots (1977), winning an Emmy for an episode he co­ wrote with William Blinn. Kinoy served as Wolper's head writer on Roots: The Next Generations (1979). In 1981 he received an Emmy nomination and Writers Guild of America Award for another of his television docudramas, Skokie, about street demonstrations at­ tempted by neo-Nazis in the Jewish neighborhoods of Skokie, Illinois.

In the 1980s and 1990s, Kinoy's made-for­ television movies continued to receive praise. His scripts included Murrow (1985), about the famous broadcaster, and TNT's Chernobyl: The Final Warning (1990). Kinoy is a rare presence in contemporary television. A writer known for quality drama, he has enjoyed success during each of television's five decades.