William Bast Biography

Fast Facts

• Won an Edgar Allan Poe Award for best television feature or miniseries for "The Legend of Lizzie Borden" in 1976
• Won a Writers Guild of America Award for his script of "The First Modern Olympics" in 1985
• Received a Christopher Award for his 1982 adaptation of "The Scarlet Pimpernel․"
• Studied theater arts at the University of California at Los Angeles, where he first met James Dean
• Got his start as a script writer for the NBC series "The Aldrich Family" at the age of 23
• Best known as an author and screenwriter who was the co-creator of "The Colbys․"
• Was a close friend of James Dean who wrote the highly regarded "James Dean: A Biography" in 1956 and the more personal "Surviving James Dean" in 2006