Kathleen Hite

Mary Kathleen Hite (June 17, 1917 – February 18, 1989) was an American writer for radio and television, including writing for the popular Western series Gunsmoke. Hite is known as the first female staff writer for CBS.

Hite was born in Wichita, Kansas, and attended high school in Hutchinson, Kansas. Her father was a cattleman, as was her brother. Her brother operated their family ranch in New Mexico. All of her grandparents had moved to Kansas during the days of the American frontier, and she noted that all were "great storytellers" about their lives, which she absorbed as a child. Hite attended Wichita State University where she majored in journalism and history.

Hite wrote for both radio and television.After graduating from Wichita State University, her first job was at a Wichita radio station. She moved to California in 1943 and got a job working for CBS as a secretary. She recalled, "CBS had a policy against hiring women writers so I hired on as a secretary. I figured once I got inside the building I could destroy them from within...I badgered the head of the writing department until he gave me a chance to write." Hite was successful in her efforts, becoming the first woman staff writer for CBS within a year. World War II-related labor shortages also helped her get hired, she noted, saying, "a producer needed a radio scriptwriter—ANY radio scriptwriter. And there I was." She contributed writing for several television series, including Alfred Hitchcock Presents, Mystery Playhouse, Thriller, Gunsmoke, and The Waltons. Hite worked for CBS until 1949, quitting to become a freelance writer.

Hite's contribution to TV series about the American West were particularly substantive, as she wrote over one hundred scripts in total for shows like Gunsmoke, Wagon Train, The Monroes, and Empire. She was one of the only women writers for television westerns and was considered "one of the top Cowboy-and-Indian scribes of all time".

In 1964, Hite received the Headliner Award from the National Professional Journalism Society. In 1965, she was elected as a charter member of the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Also in 1965, she was made an honorary member of the Choctaw Native American tribe. In 1970, she was given the Achievement Award from Wichita State University alumni association, which is its highest honor.

Hite died on February 18, 1989, in Carefree, Arizona, at the age of 71.