Adrian Spies, the son of Philip and Anna Spies, was born in Newark, New Jersey on April 17, 1920. He received a B.A. with honors from the University of North Carolina in 1941 and an M.S. from the Columbia University School of Journalism in 1942.
He started his career as a newspaper reporter, working for P.M., the United States Foreign Broadcast Intelligence Service, the Blue Network Washington News Room, the United Press and the New York Daily Mirror during the years 1942-1947. In 1947, while writing for the Welcome Travelers Radio Show, he began free-lance writing for radio and television. Mr. Spies wrote for such shows as Climax, Robert Montgomery Presents, Playhouse 90, The Dick Powell Theatre, and Dr. Kildare. He also wrote two screen treatments and three screenplays for MGM. In later years he wrote for television programs such as The Bold Ones, Felony Squad, The Nurses, and Star Trek, and also wrote for the films Dark of the Sun and Guns for San Sebastian, among others.
Mr. Spies won at least three awards for his writings. These include the Robert E. Sherwood Award (Fund for the Republic) for the best network drama of 1957, which he won for “Island in the City” on the Climax series; the Edgar award, presented by the Mystery Writers of America for the best network drama of 1958, which he won for “Edge of Truth” on the Studio One series; and an Emmy nomination in 1963 for outstanding writing achievement in original drama for “What's God to Julius?” on the Dr. Kildare series.
Mr. Spies was married to Virginia Eiseman Spies and lived in Beverly Hills, California. He died in 1998.
