Donald Bellisario

Donald Paul Bellisario (born 8 August 1935) is an American television producer and screenwriter. His latest television project was NCIS with writer Don McGill. Sources reported in May 2007 that Bellisario was leaving NCIS. Bellisario was born in Cokeburg, Pennsylvania to a Serbian mother and Italian father (born in Gamberale, Abruzzo, Italy). He served in the U.S. Marine Corps from 1955 to 1959, attaining the rank of Sergeant and earning the Mar... more

Donald Paul Bellisario (born 8 August 1935) is an American television producer and screenwriter. His latest television project was NCIS with writer Don McGill. Sources reported in May 2007 that Bellisario was leaving NCIS. Bellisario was born in Cokeburg, Pennsylvania to a Serbian mother and Italian father (born in Gamberale, Abruzzo, Italy). He served in the U.S. Marine Corps from 1955 to 1959, attaining the rank of Sergeant and earning the Marine Corps Good Conduct Medal. Bellisario earned a bachelors degree in journalism at Pennsylvania State University in 1961. He also attended Butler Community College in El Dorado, Kansas. In 2001 he was named a Distinguished Alumnus—the highest honor bestowed on a graduate of Penn State. In 2006, Bellisario endowed a $1 million Trustee Matching Scholarship in the Penn State College of Communications. He recalled: Bellisario worked in advertising for fifteen years as a copywriter and a creative director. He began working in Lancaster,... less