Montgomery Pittman

Who was Montgomery Pittman?

Montgomery "Monty" Pittman was a television writer, director, and actor. Pittman was born in Louisiana and reared in Oklahoma. He left home to work in a carnival and then broke into acting in New York. In 1949, He moved to Los Angeles, California, and soon turned from acting to screenwriting. He wrote for such television series as ABC/Warner Brothers' 77 Sunset Strip, Sugarfoot, Maverick, Cheyenne, Surfside 6, and Colt .45 and also for NBC's The Deputy, and CBS's The Twilight Zone.

Efrem Zimbalist, Jr., lead star of 77 Sunset Strip, a detective series which aired from 1958 to 1964, recalls that his friend Pittman at forty-five became ill with "a tumor on the side of his neck that grew rapidly to grapefruit-size. He had it excised, but it left a gaping hole, which he covered with a kerchief". The tumor was treated as cancer but did not go into remission, and Pittman soon died. Zimbalist delivered a eulogy at Pittman's funeral, the remarks of which are lost to history. Will Hutchins, another friend of Pittman's whom he attributed to having saved the Sugarfoot series for its two final seasons, was asked to be a pallbearer but declined because as a teenager Hutchins had dropped the casket of a relative and feared he might do so again.