[Deathwatch] Dean Riesner, "Dirty Harry" Screenwriter, 83

[Deathwatch Central <cdw@slick.org>]

'Dirty Harry' writer dies
August 28, 2002 Posted: 10:15 AM EDT (1415 GMT)

http://www.cnn.com/2002/SHOWBIZ/News/08/28/showbuzz/index.html#2

HOLLYWOOD, California (Reuters) -- Hollywood screenwriter Dean Riesner,
who came up with the immortal Clint Eastwood line "Do you feel lucky,
punk?" died August 18 of natural causes at his Encino, California,
home, Variety reports. He was 83. 

A one-time child actor, Riesner turned to screenwriting in the late
1930s with credits including the James Cagney starrer "The Fighting
69th," "Code of the Secret Service" and "A Fugitive From Justice." He
switched to TV in the late 1950s and wrote episodes of "Lawman," "Ben
Casey," "The Outer Limits" and "Rawhide," where he first worked with
Eastwood.

In 1968, Riesner began his feature film association with Eastwood when
he scripted the popular "Coogan's Bluff." In 1971, Riesner penned
Eastwood's feature directorial debut, "Play Misty for Me," and that
same year Eastwood brought Riesner in to rewrite what later became the
greenlight draft of "Dirty Harry." Riesner's line "Do you feel lucky,
punk?" caught on with the public and became catchphrases. 

Riesner also penned the Nick Nolte/Peter Strauss hit miniseries "Rich
Man, Poor Man" in 1976 and then carved a successful niche for himself
as a script doctor, working uncredited on such features as "Das Boot,"
"Blue Thunder" and "Starman." 

A sampling of his feature credits includes "The Helen Morgan Story,"
"The Travellers," "Paris Holiday," "High Plains Drifter" (uncredited)
and "The Sting II" (uncredited). His final credit came in 1987 with the
Whoopi Goldberg/Sam Elliott comedy "Fatal Beauty."