- Born
- Died
- Birth nameJackson Clark Gillis
- Jackson Gillis was the middle son of three boys born to Ridgway M. Gillis (a civil engineer for the Washington State Highway Department) and Marjorie Lyman. In the late 1920s the Gillis family moved to California, settling first in Fresno then in Sacramento, where he grew up before attending and graduating from Stanford University. In July 1941 he married stage actress Patricia Cassidy.
Assigned as intelligence officer with the 184th Infantry Regiment, Gillis served in the Pacific during WWII; after leaving the Army as a lieutenant colonel at the end of the war, he returned to writing for radio, most prominently "Let George Do It." From there he moved into television, writing many episodes of such series as Perry Mason (1957) (for which he was also associate producer), Lassie (1954), Racket Squad (1950) and Le Club Mickey (1955). He was a regular writer on the "Columbo" series starring Peter Falk and was nominated for an Emmy for one of scripts for that series.
After more than 40 years of writing television scripts, Jackson Gillis retired from the business in 1996 and he and his wife moved to a small town in Idaho.- IMDb mini biography by: rtvf
- SpousePatricia McLane Cassidy(July 31, 1941 - September 14, 2003) (her death, 1 child)
- ChildrenCandida Gillis
- He attended Fresno State University in Fresno, California but he graduated from Stanford University in Palo Alto, California with a Bachelor's Degree.
- He served as an intelligence officer for the United States Army in the Pacific during World War II. After his discharge, he moved to Los Angeles, California.
- He is survived by his daughter, Candida Gillis of Moscow, Idaho, and a grandson. He is survived by his brother, William Gillis of Walnut Creek, California.
- Retired, in Moscow, Idaho.
- Son of Ridgway Gillis and Marjorie Lyman Gillis.
- The Adventures of Spin and Marty (1955) - $500 per episode
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