TV writer, Cape Girardeau native McNeely remembered

Jerry McNeely -- Cape Girardeau native, Emmy Award-nominated television writer and creator of the TV series "Owen Marshall, Counselor at Law" -- was remembered this week as modest, mild-mannered, intelligent and determined.

McNeely, who died July 14 of Parkinson's disease in Tarzana, California, was buried Wednesday in Pleasant Hill Cemetery near Fruitland.

McNeely wrote episodes of 1960s and 1970s television hits including "Dr. Kildare," "The Man from U.N.C.L.E.," "Ironside" and "Marcus Welby, M.D." and, in the 1950s, "The Twilight Zone," "McMillan and Wife," "The Virginian" and others.

"Something for Joey," which McNeely directed and produced, in 1978 won a Golden Globe Award as best motion picture made for television and was nominated for an Emmy. It was based on the life of John Cappelletti, who in accepting the 1973 Heisman Trophy, startled the audience with a tribute to his young brother, Joey, a victim of leukemia. The New York Times called the movie "a tearful, worthwhile drama."

A program based on his 1956 unsolicited television script, "The Staring Match," was telecast live in 1957 by Westinghouse Studio One, one of the most respected dramatic series in early television, and won The Writers Guild Award for best TV drama that year.

According to his obituary, McNeely graduated from Cape Girardeau Central High School, became an announcer at KFVS radio at age 16, attended Westminster College in Fulton, Missouri, for two years, and returned to Cape Girardeau to attend Southeast Missouri State University, graduating in 1949. After earning a master's degree in speech and drama at the University of Wisconsin, he joined the Southeast faculty.

Drafted into the U.S. Army in 1949, he served two years with Special Forces. Upon discharge, he returned to the University of Wisconsin, earned a doctorate in theater arts and joined the faculty; he was granted a full professorship in 1964. At the age of 36, he was the youngest man to have achieved that position.

Virginia Goodwin of Cape Girardeau remembered McNeely from their days at Southeast.

"Jerry wrote the Benton-Clio Follies," Goodwin, said, referring to talent shows at Southeast in 1948 and 1949 and explaining that Benton referred to a fraternity and Clio to a sorority.

"That's when my [late] husband Fred and I became acquainted with him. Jerry wrote both the skits and the music; one musical number was called "The Shhhh Song," which was about censorship, because sometimes a skit might be on the edge. He was an incredible talent, and at the same time very modest."

In talking with local entertainer Jerry Ford for his book "Dreamers: Entertainers from Small Town to Big Time," McNeely provided this advice for aspiring artists and entertainers:

"I know it seems hopeless looking from the outside from Cape Girardeau (or anywhere else) to Beverly Hills, but it's easier than most aspiring writers think. For much of my career, I was the right person at the right time. Go for it. Good luck. It's great fun!"

Ford on Thursday told the Southeast Missourian, "When you talked [to McNeely], he was very mild- mannered and courteous, and exactly the opposite of what you'd expect in a very intense, cutthroat arena of Hollywood. He obviously was very intelligent -- he was teaching and writing at the same time, and then the writing kind of took over. At some point he made the jump from Wisconsin to Hollywood. He had drive and determination, but he had the talent. He was mild-mannered, cordial, unassuming and interested in what everyone else was doing even as he was climbing to the heights."

McNeely's first college acting performance was at Southeast Missouri State University, where he portrayed Androcles in George Bernard Shaw's "Androcles and the Lion," according to a 2004 Southeast Missourian story. He told the Southeast Missourian he "always wanted to be an actor but told very few people that because I knew it was ridiculous."

As a producer, however, he often created for himself small, nonspeaking acting parts -- in the style of Alfred Hitchcock, the British director who made nonspeaking appearances in his films.

The Hollywood Reporter, in reporting McNeely's death, said, "In an unusual situation, McNeely remained on the Wisconsin faculty through his most prolific period in the 1960s, writing long distance and occasionally commuting. He resigned from the university and moved to California to pursue TV writing in 1975."

"Jerry went from the speech department at the University of Wisconsin, where he wrote on the side. His services were in such demand in television, that he resigned [from the university]," McNeely's brother Don, well-known locally as a longtime weatherman on KFVS-12, said, adding that Jerry McNeely estimated he had written at least 200 scripts.

Don McNeely said his brother was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease about 20 years ago after a family ski trip.

"He had difficulty making his turns and keeping his balance," Don McNeely said. "Unfortunately, [Parkinson[']s] cut short his writing career because he no longer could put his words together the right way."

In addition to his brother, McNeely is survived by his wife Ellen; children, Joel, Melissa, Betsy and Ian; two grandchildren; and a sister, Jane McNeely Bruns, who is a stage actress. His first wife, Priscilla Grant, passed away in 1976.