Herbert Franklin Solow

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Inside Star Trek: The Real Story, book cover.

For others see Herbert Solow

Herbert F. Solow (born 1931) worked in Hollywood as a producer, director, studio executive, talent agent, and writer.

[edit] Biography

After graduating from Dartmouth College in 1953 Solow was hired by the William Morris Agency in New York City to work in the mailroom. In 1954 he was promoted to talent agent. Later he was hired by NBC and transferred to Los Angeles in 1960 and was subsequently hired by CBS as Director of Daytime Programs, West Coast. He returned to NBC a year later as Director of Daytime Programs.

In 1964 he joined Desilu Studios and was appointed Vice President of Production in 1965. Solow oversaw the development, sales, and production of Star Trek, Mission: Impossible, and Mannix.

Solow joined MGM Television as vice president in charge of television production. There he oversaw the development and production of Medical Center, Then Came Bronson, and The Courtship of Eddie's Father.

Solow was appointed Vice-president of Worldwide Television and Motion Picture Production and was head of MGM Studios in Culver City, California and Borehamwood, England.

He was the executive producer of the short-lived NBC TV series Man from Atlantis (packaged by his own production company, which was owned by Taft Broadcasting) and produced the award-winning feature length documentary Elvis, That's the Way It Is, starring Elvis Presley.

Solow is a member of the Writers Guild of America, the Directors Guild of America and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and serves on the Foreign Film, Documentary, and Special Effects Committees of AMPAS.

Along with Robert H. Justman, he wrote Inside Star Trek: The Real Story, published by Pocket Books in 1996. According to Publishers Weekly, "As told by Solow, Star Trek's executive in charge of production, and Justman, Star Trek's co-producer, this is arguably the definitive history of the TV show...With plenty of behind-the-scenes material that will be of interest to Trek fans, this book puts a good deal of emphasis on the show's business side, elucidating production difficulties, cost overruns and the seemingly constant debate with NBC over the show's future."

He is married to Yvonne Fern Solow, who wrote the book, Gene Roddenberry: The Last Conversation (1994).

[edit] Factoid

Solow was the first to call Gene Roddenberry "The Great Bird of the Galaxy," drawn from a throwaway line from the original series episode "The Man Trap."