John Vlahos Papers | Rare Book & Manuscript Library, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

John Vlahos (1917-2004) was an American screenwriter during the 1950s and 1960s. Vlahos was born and raised in Springfield, Ohio to a Greek Orthodox family, working in the family restaurant and acting in school plays and the community theatre. Vlahos attended Wittenberg University and then graduated with a major in drama from Carnegie Tech in 1939. At the start of his acting and writing career, Vlahos moved to the West Coast in ca. 1941 and wrote a series of western Range Busters for Monogram Pictures. During the Second World War, Vlahos served as a Naval lieutenant in the South Pacific and was heavily involved in the Armed Forces Radio Service.

After WWII, Vlahos began writing for television and live broadcast plays. Among Vlahos' most famous pieces include: A Business Proposition, A Bend in the Road, and Tongues of Angels. Vlahos worked with some of the most successful writers and producers in the early years of Hollywood and television. Among his works include screenplays on 17 films, 70 radio shows, and about 52 network television live and film dramas. Vlahos won an Emmy for The Defenders, an American courtroom drama series that ran in the early 1960s.

Sources

"John Vlahos, 87: Won Emmy for Script of 'The Defenders.'" The Los Angeles Times, 19 April 2004.