Lorenzo Semple Jr.

Lorenzo Elliott Semple III (March 27, 1923 – March 28, 2014), known professionally as Lorenzo Semple Jr., was an American writer. He is best known for his work on the television series Batman, as well as political thriller films The Parallax View (1974) and Three Days of the Condor (1975).

Semple attended the Brooks School in North Andover, Massachusetts, graduating in 1940. He then attended Yale University, but left in 1941 to join the American Field Service in North Africa during World War II, where his boyish beard earned him the nickname "the goat". Aged 19, he was awarded the Médaille militaire and Croix de Guerre for his service as a volunteer ambulance driver with the Free French forces in Libya. Wounded in action at Bir Hakeim, he returned to the United States where he was drafted into the U.S. Army, serving as an intelligence officer in Europe. His time training at Camp Ritchie's Military Intelligence Training Center puts him among the ranks of nearly 20,000 Ritchie Boys.

Semple's writing career started in 1951, as a short story contributor to magazines such as The Saturday Evening Post and Collier's Weekly. Semple also tried writing for the theatre and had a play produced on Broadway, Tonight in Samarkand (1955), a melodrama adapted from the French.

He wrote an episode for The Alcoa Hour called "Archangel Harrison" (1955).

He wrote another play, Golden Fleecing, which was filmed for Matinee Theatre in 1958 and premiered on Broadway in 1959.

Semple wrote "China Boy" for the TV series Buckskin (1958), "Four Against Three Millions" and "Money Go Round" for Target (1958), and "Epitaph for a Golden Girl" for Pursuit (1958). "Golden Fleecing" was bought by MGM and produced under the title The Honeymoon Machine (1961), starring Steve McQueen, following which Semple relocated to Hollywood and established himself as a writer for several television shows, including Kraft Suspense Theatre ("Knight's Gambit" 1964), Breaking Point ("Never Trouble Trouble Till Trouble Troubles You" 1964), The Rogues ("Death of a Fleming " 1964), Theatre of Stars ("The Fliers" 1965), Burke's Law (several episodes).

While living in Spain in 1965, Semple was approached by producer William Dozier to develop a television series for ABC based on the comic book Batman. Semple wrote a pilot which was promptly picked up, and the series based on it put on the air, with popular success. Semple wrote the first four episodes. Semple also served as Executive Story Editor.

At the same time he provided the screenplay for the 1966 Batman feature film version.