Herbert F. Solow
	Writer, Producer, Director, Executive, University Lecturer, Studio Head: VP MGM (Worldwide Motion Pictures and Television); VP Paramount Pictures Television; VP Desilu Productions; Exec at NBC and CBS. Writer’s Guild, Director’s Guild, Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. 50 years in television and motion pictures.

Shortly after graduation from Dartmouth College (A.B. American Literature and Drama) Herb Solow joined the mailroom of the William Morris Agency in New York City. Within three years, Solow was a successful agent representing television and theatrical motion picture producers and directors, such as Ingmar Bergman, Sheldon Reynolds, Morris Engel, etc. as well as involvement with the earliest American television series filmed entirely in Europe, Foreign Intrigue (starring Jerome Thor, James Daly and Gerald Mohr) and The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (starring Ronald Howard and H. Marion Crawford.)

When his immediate superior resigned from the Morris Office and joined the New York office of the NBC Film Division, Solow joined NBC as a Program and Foreign Sales Executive. In addition to his program responsibilities, he established NBC’s International Television Sales Division as well as negotiating series production and distribution agreements for NBC Films.

Solow left CBS and joined NBC in Burbank as NBC Television Network Director of Daytime Programs, West Coast, where he renewed his working relationship with NBC, Vice-President, Grant A. Tinker, Head of the West Coast office for NBC. Solow and Tinker had worked together when Solow was Program Director of the NBC Film Division and Tinker was Vice-President of Benton & Bowles Advertising. As Director of Daytime Programs, Solow supervised the production of daily soap operas, game shows and interview shows such as Ralph Edwards’ "Truth or Consequences," and personally supervised the development and production of the highly successful "Let's Make A Deal."

Herb Solow was asked by Desilu owner, Lucille Ball, to join the studio as Director of Program Development and Production. Within a year, Solow had become Vice President of Production and Studio Head, reporting solely to company president, Lucille Ball. He personally supervised the development, sale and series production of the legendary television series, Star Trek, on NBC and both Mission: Impossible and Mannix on CBS, a tour de force that moved Desilu to the forefront of television production in Hollywood. When Gulf & Western, the parent company of Paramount Pictures, purchased Desilu from Lucille Ball and merged the company into Paramount Pictures, Herb Solow was appointed Paramount Pictures Vice-President of Television Production

Solow had personally supervised and guided the pilot development and production of Then Came Bronson, Medical Center and The Courtship of Eddie’s Father. He then sold all three of these network series in one week: Then Came Bronson to NBC, Medical Center to CBS, The Courtship of Eddie’s Father to ABC and instantly catapulted MGM back into to the role of a major supplier of television films.

Solow had been made MGM Vice-President of Worldwide Motion Picture and Television Production, a position he held under two administrations. First appointed to the position by MGM President Louis Polk and MGM Board Chairman Edgar Bronfman, at the time when the Bronfman family had bought control of MGM from Robert O’Brien, Solow’s expertise was both desperately needed and apparent. When the Bronfman Family subsequently sold control of MGM to Kirk Kerkorian and James T. Aubrey, Jr. was appointed President of MGM, Aubrey removed all MGM major executives except Herb Solow, in whom he demonstrated his confidence by adding a roster of demanding tasks to Solow’s position as Studio Head. Herb Solow instantly became responsible for the development and production of all theatrical motion pictures and television series, as well as the daily functioning of the Studios in Culver City, California and the Boreham Wood Studios in England.

Solow worked with (and was responsible for the films of) such directors as David Lean, Blake Edwards, Robert Altman, Paul Mazurski, Michaelangelo Antonioni, Herbert Ross, Brian Hutton, Roger Vadim, Ken Russell, Mike Hodges, Burt Kennedy, etc. He supervised the development and production of twenty-five MGM motion pictures. In addition to his duties as Studio Head, Solow personally produced the award-winning, full-length MGM documentary feature starring Elvis Presley, “Elvis: That’s The Way It Was.” When Solow resigned from MGM to enter independent production, he produced and/or wrote a series of television movies, among which were innovative films for the time such as Killdozer, Climb An Angry Mountain, Heatwave, etc. It was during this time that he developed film and television projects in a business venture with comedian, Don Rickles.

After producting several films, Brimstone & Treacle (written by Dennis Potter and directed by Richard Loncraine), Get Crazy, The Courageous, etc. in Los Angeles, England and Yugoslavia, Solow independently developed and produced, in Italy, the Columbia Pictures release, Saving Grace. Solow turned his attention to writing and is the author of the definitive work Inside Star Trek: The Real Story (Simon and Schuster, 1996) and The Star Trek Sketchbook, (Simon & Schuster, 1997) co-written with his wife, author and former UC Berkeley Lecturer, Harrison Solow. The couple also co-wrote and produced Paramount Pictures Home Video Spring 1999 release Inside Star Trek. His work as Head of Desilu, running the studio for Lucille Ball and bringing to world television, Star Trek, Mission:Impossible and Mannix is the subject of one of his books which has been optioned by Warner Brothers, and is currently being written as a motion picture for presentation on the A&E Network in 2006.