Gene L. Coon

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Gene L. Coon

Eugene "Gene" Lee Coon (7 January 1924 – 8 July 1973; age 49), commonly known as "Gene L. Coon", sometimes credited under the pseudonym "Lee Cronin", was a writer and producer for Star Trek: The Original Series. He produced the first season of the series from "Miri" to "Operation -- Annihilate!" and the second season from "Catspaw" to "A Private Little War", earning him a 1967 Emmy Award nomination.

Coon was hired as line producer in August 1966, when associate producer / story editor John D.F. Black left, and Gene Roddenberry felt he needed someone to handle everyday production business and do re-writes of the scripts, or else he and Robert Justman would soon be unable to cope up with the demanding work. He was Roddenberry's fourth choice for the job, as Fred Freiberger, Samuel A. Peeples and James Goldstone all declined the offer. (These Are the Voyages: TOS Season One)

Much of the framework of the Star Trek universe, was established under Coon's tenure on the series; the Klingons were introduced (TOS: "Errand of Mercy", the galactic governing body United Federation of Planets was named (TOS: "Arena", "A Taste of Armageddon"), Starfleet Command was firmly established as the USS Enterprise's operating authority (TOS: "Court Martial"), and the Prime Directive was first articulated. (TOS: "The Return of the Archons") James T. Kirk actor, William Shatner, has flat-out attributed the creation of all of these to Coon in his book Star Trek Memories (p. 219).

Besides writing and producing the series, Coon often did uncredited rewrites on the scripts, just like he did in The Wild Wild West. (The Star Trek Compendium) He was also known for his ability to write scripts in a very short time. For example, Coon wrote "The Devil in the Dark" over the course of four days. (The World of Star Trek)

Coon left the series mid-season 2, partly because of being tired and worn-out by the constantly exhausting work, and partly because of his dispute with Roddenberry, who disliked the more light-hearted, comedic approach taken by the show under Coon's guidance (especially the three straight-out comedy episodes, "I, Mudd", "The Trouble with Tribbles", and "A Piece of the Action"). Despite leaving the series as producer and head writer, Coon continued writing to Star Trek, using his pseudynom "Lee Cronin". (Inside Star Trek: The Real Story, These Are the Voyages: TOS Season Two)

Coon was invited, by D.C. Fontana, to write for Star Trek: The Animated Series but declined her offer, being uninterested in it. As such, he was one of only a few people who turned down the invite. (Star Trek: The Magazine Volume 1, Issue 16, p. 67)

Having already died in 1973, Coon had not been able himself to counteract Roddenberry's "revisionist" (as typified in the 2014 documentary William Shatner Presents: Chaos on the Bridge by former colleague David Gerrold) abscondings of his contributions during the latter's vigorous Star Trek conventions campaigning during the entire 1970s and early 1980s, more or less claiming Coon's contributions to Star Trek as his own, after Roddenberry had belatedly realized that Coon's contributions were among the most popular for Star Trek, and which had made the second season so beloved in the first place. By consistently keeping Coon's name under the wraps all this time, Roddenberry nearly succeeded in relegating Coon to utter oblivion, were it not for others, who had worked closely with Coon, like Shatner, Herb Solow and Justman, who were of a different mind, refusing to let Roddenberry get away with it, in writings such as Star Trek Memories (dedicating an entire chapter to him, significantly entitled "The Unsung Hero"), and Inside Star Trek: The Real Story.

While both books were published after Roddenberry's death, Shatner actually took it up a notch while the "Great Bird of the Galaxy" was still alive. Even though he had not nearly as large a bone to pick with Roddenberry as, for example, his co-star Leonard Nimoy had, Shatner in particular felt damned if he would let Roddenberry get away with this injustice. On 6 June 1991 shortly before celebrating the 100th episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation, the Producers Building at the former Desilu studio lot was renamed "Gene Roddenberry Building", and Shatner was one of the speakers. During his speech, Shatner dropped Coon's name a few times, pounding home the message to a visibly embarrassed Roddenberry. Very shortly after Roddenberry's death five months later, Shatner, not in the slightest rueful, explained himself, "In my opinion, Gene Coon had more to do with the infusion of life into STAR TREK than any other single person. Gene Roddenberry's instincts for crating the original package are unparalleled. He put it together, hired the people and the concept was his and set in motion by him, but after 13 shows other people took over. Gene Coon spent a year and set the tenor of the show and there were several other producers who were writer/producers who defined its character. Gene [Roddenberry] was more in the background as other people actively took over." (Cinefantastique, Vol 22 #5, p. 39)

Career outside Star Trek

Coon was a Marine who served during World War II (from 21 August 1942 to 23 August 1946), then joined the Marine Corps Reserves in 1948 before being called back into active duty in 1950 for service in Korea, serving from 21 June 1950 to 25 August 1952.

Coon wrote two novels, Meanwhile, Back At The Front and The Short End, both of which dealt with the Korean War conflict. Soon after, Coon began writing for the movie and television screen. In 1957 he wrote two films for Universal Pictures, The Girl in the Kremlin and Man in the Shadow. Both films featured William Schallert in the cast, while the latter co-starred Orson Welles and also featured Paul Fix. He also wrote the script for the 1964 film The Killers (featuring Seymour Cassel) - best known for being Ronald Reagan's final acting role before entering politics.

Coon began to write for television in the late 1950's. Among his many contributions, he wrote two episodes of Zorro, both of them featuring Ken Lynch, an episode of My Favorite Martian (starring Ray Walston), and an episode of Have Gun - Will Travel, on which Gene Roddenberry served as one of the leading writers. He also wrote an episode of Bonanza which featured Leonard Nimoy and another episode which featured Michael Forest and Anthony Caruso.

Following his tenure on Star Trek, Coon produced the series It Takes a Thief, which co-starred Malachi Throne. He also wrote an episode of The Sixth Sense featuring William Shatner, and two episodes of the Harve Bennett-produced The Mod Squad, starring Tige Andrews and Clarence Williams III, and directed by Lawrence Dobkin. With Gene Roddenberry, Coon wrote The Questor Tapes, an unsold 1974 pilot which was directed by Richard Colla and featured Majel Barrett and Walter Koenig; Robert Foxworth played the title character. Data, the android from The Next Generation was based on Questor. Though the series was not picked up, it did earn him, posthumously, and Roddenberry a 1975 Hugo Award nomination in the category Best Dramatic Presentation. Coon died before the project was completed, and D.C. Fontana's novelization of the pilot is dedicated to his memory.

Coon divorced his first wife, Joy, in 1968, and married his teenage love, model-actress Jacqueline Mitchell. Joy died one year later of cancer, and refused to allow her ex-husband to visit her in the hospital. Coon was shattered by the event. (Inside Star Trek: The Real Story, pp. 347-349, 428)

Coon died of lung cancer in 1973, only a week after being diagnosed. He visited Robert Justman's office one day, wearing a portable oxygen tank and mask, gasping and coughing. Justman urged him to go in for medical tests, despite the fact that Coon said his breathing difficulties stemmed from the "Goddamned LA smog." (Inside Star Trek: The Real Story, pp. 428-429)

Star Trek credits

• Writing / co-writing credits
  • TOS, as Gene L. Coon:
    • "Arena" (teleplay)
    • "A Taste of Armageddon" (teleplay with Robert Hamner)
    • "Space Seed" (teleplay with Carey Wilber)
    • "The Devil in the Dark"
    • "Errand of Mercy"
    • "Metamorphosis"
    • "Bread and Circuses" (with Gene Roddenberry)
    • "A Piece of the Action" (teleplay with David P. Harmon)
  • TOS, as Lee Cronin:
    • "Spectre of the Gun"
    • "Spock's Brain"
    • "Wink of an Eye" (story)
    • "Let That Be Your Last Battlefield" (story)
• Producing credits
  • Star Trek: The Original Series ("Miri" - "A Private Little War") - Producer (uncredited for "The Menagerie, Part II" and "Journey to Babel")

Emmy Award nomination

As Producer, Coon received the following Emmy Award nomination in the category Outstanding Dramatic Series:

• 1967 for Star Trek: The Original Series, shared with Gene Roddenberry

External links

• Gene L. Coon at Wikipedia
• Template:IMDb-link