Jon Epstein

Jon Epstein (March 7, 1928) was an American television producer, known for producing such detective thrillers as the McMillan and Wife (1974-1977) and Emmy Award-nominated miniseries Rich Man, Poor Man (1976-1977).

Epstein was born on March 7, 1928, in New York.

After serving in the Korean War, Epstein started his career in broadcasting as an office worker; when he was 19, he worked in mimeographing at Ziv Television Programs, Inc. in New York—an American production company that specialized in productions for first-run television syndication in the 1950s.

A few years later, he transitioned to working in the production department for the same company. In 1956, he worked as a production supervisor for Ziv's TV series I Led 3 Lives(starring Richard Carlson and John Zaremba). In 1958, he was put in charge of the production of the TV series Harbor Command (starring Wendell Corey, and Clark Howat).

1961 saw Epstein's official debut as a television producer with King of Diamonds, for which he served as the executive producer. In 1965, his next two productions were broadcast: an episode of Kraft Suspense Theatre and two episodes of The Trials of O'Brien.

After working on such television series as Tarzan (1966), The Outcasts (1968-1969), The Young Rebels (1970-1971), and Owen Marshall, Counselor at Law (1971-1974), in 1974, Epstein began producing McMillan & Wife for NBC. The series, a police crime drama, had Rock Hudson and Susan Saint James in the title roles. Initially airing on Wednesday night, the original lineup was shifted to Sundays in the second season, where it aired for the rest of its run. For the final season, known as McMillan, numerous changes were made that included killing off St. James' character of Sally McMillan (Susan Saint James.)

Two years later, in 1976, he served as a supervisor producer on the ABC miniseries Rich Man, Poor Man, which is based on the 1969 novel of the same name by Irwin Shaw. It spawned the sequel Rich Man, Poor Man Book II, which aired from September 1976 through March 1977. The network repeated the original series Tuesday nights at 9:00 pm from May to June 1977. It won many awards and nominations, including "Best Television Series - Drama" at the 1977 Golden Globes, "Outstanding Directing in a Drama Series" for David Greene at the 1976 Emmy awards, and many for the cast (Peter Strauss, Nick Nolte, and Susan Blakely, among others.) On September 28, 2010, A&E Home Video released an edited version of Rich Man, Poor Man: The Complete Collection on Region 1 DVD in the United States.

Epstein's other notable later television credits include The Contender (1980), Advice to the Lovelorn (1981), Scene of the Crime (1984-1985), and High Desert Kill (1989). His last television work was on Columbo for 7 episodes in 1990-1991.

Epstein died from complications of lymphoma on November 24, 1990, at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, California. This was during the days he was working on Columbo.

He is buried in Mount Sinai Memorial Park in Los Angeles, California.

• King of Diamonds (1961)
• 1966: Desert Commando ("The Rat Patrol") (TV series)
• Three's a Crowd (1969)
• The Young Rebels (1970)
• The Sheriff (1971)
• Cat Ballou (1971)
• Tenafly (1973)
• Partners in Crime (1973)
• The Man from Independence (1974)
• 1975: Switch (TV series)
• 1976: The Rich and the Poor ("Rich Man, Poor Man") (TV soap opera)
• The Gossip Columnist (1979)
• The Contender (1980)
• Advice to the Lovelorn (1981) (TV)
• The Red-Light Sting (1984) (TV)
• I Saw What You Did (1988)
• 1989: Alone in the Glass Tower (TV)
• High Desert Kill (1989)
• Columbo (1990) - Columbo : Columbo Cries Wolf(TV)
• Columbo: Agenda for Murder (1990) (TV)
• Columbo: Uneasy Lies the Crown (1990) (TV)
• Columbo: Murder in Malibu (1990) (TV)
• This Gun for Hire (1991)
• 1991: Columbo - Warning: Murder can harm your health (Columbo: Caution! Murder Can Be Hazardous to Your Health) (TV)
• Columbo: Columbo and the Murder of a Rock Star (1991) (TV)