TV writer had extensive credits

Robert Schlitt, 75, a writer and producer who worked on such TV programs as “Matlock,” “Father Dowling Mysteries” and “The Monkees,” died of cancer Nov. 25 at his Encino home, his family said.

Schlitt and his writing partner Peter Meyerson collaborated on what became the first episode of “The Monkees” TV series in 1966. Schlitt continued to write for “The Monkees” and other TV series from the 1960s to the ‘90s, including “Hawaii Five-O,” “The Streets of San Francisco” and “Lou Grant.”

In addition to writing extensively for “Matlock” and “Father Dowling Mysteries,” Schlitt also became a producer on those shows.

He also wrote for other media, including the screenplay for “Been Down So Long It Looks Like Up to Me,” a 1971 film based on Richard Farina’s novel.

Schlitt translated into English the French comedy “The Egg” by Felicien Marceau, which played on Broadway in 1962 as well as at UCLA’s Schoenberg Hall the previous year.

Schlitt was born July 24, 1933, in Brooklyn, N.Y. He served in the Army in the 1950s and, while based in Frankfurt and Paris, played in a military jazz band, his family said. After earning a bachelor’s degree in literature at Columbia University in 1957, he returned to Paris and found work as an actor and musician.