Stirling Dale Silliphant (16 January 1918 – 26 April 1996) was a prolific American screenwriter and producer. He was born in Detroit, Michigan, moved to Glendale, California as a child, graduated from Hoover High School, and educated at the University of Southern California. He is probably best known for his Academy-award winning screenplay for In the Heat of the Night and co-creating the television series Route 66. Other acclaimed features as sc...
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Stirling Dale Silliphant (16 January 1918 – 26 April 1996) was a prolific American screenwriter and producer. He was born in Detroit, Michigan, moved to Glendale, California as a child, graduated from Hoover High School, and educated at the University of Southern California. He is probably best known for his Academy-award winning screenplay for In the Heat of the Night and co-creating the television series Route 66. Other acclaimed features as screenwriter include Irwin Allen productions The Towering Inferno and The Poseidon Adventure.
Silliphant is also remembered for his now-infamous bet with Hal Warren on whether Warren could make a successful horror film on a limited budget, which was the inspiration for Manos: The Hands of Fate. He was a close friend of Bruce Lee — under whom he studied martial arts — who was featured in the Silliphant-penned detective movie Marlowe and four episodes of the series Longstreet. Silliphant was involved in the early part of Bruce Lee's movie and TV...
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