Howard Berk

Howard Berk was a writer best known for working on the series Columbo, Mission: Impossible, McMillan & Wife, and The Rockford Files. He also penned the script for the 1985 action film Target, starring Gene Hackman and Matt Dillon as a father and son at odds.

Additionally, Berk contributed to the shows Matinee Theatre, The Magician, Get Christie Love!, Barbary Coast, Mrs. Columbo, Cassie & Co., The Devlin Connection, The Fall Guy and The New Mike Hammer.

Berk also wrote the 1981 television movie Advice to the Lovelorn, starring Cloris Leachman, Kelly Bishop and Walter Brooke. The telefilm, which was intended as a pilot for a series, followed the story of advice columnist Maggie Dale (Leachman). It was nominated for one Emmy Award, in the category of outstanding achievement in music and lyrics.

Berk also served as an executive script consultant on the series McMillan & Wife, Mrs. Columbo, The Fall Guy and Masquerade. Additionally, he contributed as a producer to The New Mike Hammer and the TV miniseries The Contender, which won the Emmy for outstanding cinematography.

Berk was a Distinguished Writer in Residence and professor at the University of Georgia, where he had studied journalism. The writer most recently published a National Geographic essay, "My Lunch With Hemingway," which recounted a meeting he had with Ernest Hemingway in 1950s Cuba. At the time, Berk was a reporter for the newspaper The Havana Herald. He also worked for papers in the U.S. and for the Associated Press and wrote four novels.

Berk died March 27, 2016, in Los Angeles. He was 91.