Michael Sloan, the television writer and producer who co-created TV series \u201cThe Equalizer\u201d with Richard Lindheim, died Wednesday in New York City. He was 78.<\/p>\n
Born in New York City in 1946, Sloan was exposed to the entertainment industry from an early age. His grandfather, Fred Stone, was a vaudeville performer known for playing the Scarecrow in the 1902 Broadway production of \u201cThe Wizard of Oz.\u201d His parents Paula Stone and Michael Sloane were Broadway stage producers, mounting numerous plays throughout the 1940s and 50s.<\/p>\n
More from Variety<\/strong><\/p>\n Sloan moved to England where he wrote and produced his first three films: a 1972 short titled \u201cHunted\u201d and two features titled \u201cAssassin\u201d and \u201cMoments,\u201d released in 1973 and 1974, respectively. In 1976, he wrote an episode of \u201cColumbo\u201d for Universal Television. The episode, \u201cNow You See Him\u201d from the show\u2019s fifth season, was widely praised and the series\u2019 only episode ever written by a freelancer.<\/p>\n When Sloan returned to the United States, he landed his first studio job at Universal, where he wrote and produced episodes of \u201cMcCloud,\u201d \u201cQuincy, M.E.,\u201d \u201cThe Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew Mysteries,\u201d \u2018Evening in Byzantium,\u201d \u201cSword of Justice,\u201d \u201cBattlestar Galactica\u201d and \u201cBJ and the Bear.\u201d He earned an Emmy nomination for his work on \u201cQuincy, M.E.\u201d<\/p>\n Sloan left Universal to work at MTM Studios in the 1980s, but while back on loan to Universal, he wrote and produced the pilot for \u201cThe Equalizer\u201d with Richard Lindheim. The Edward Woodward-starring crime series aired on CBS in 1985 and ran for four seasons. Columbia Pictures rebooted the franchise with a trilogy of \u201cEqualizer\u201d films starring Denzel Washington between 2014 and 2023. Sloan served as a producer on all three films. In 2021, CBS rebooted the series on television starring Queen Latifah. It ran for five seasons before its finale in May.<\/p>\n Sloan wrote and produced several TV films, including ones based on \u201cThe Man From U.N.C.L.E.\u201d and \u201cThe Six Million Dollar Man.\u201d He also wrote and produced episodes of \u201cAlfred Hitchcock Presents,\u201d \u201cCall of the Wild,\u201d \u201cOuter Limits\u201d and \u201cKung Fu: The Legend Continues.\u201d Beyond the screen, he wrote the play \u201cUnderground\u201d starring Raymond Burr, which premiered a the Royal Alexander Theater in Toronto and then moved to London\u2019s West End. He also wrote a series of \u201cEqualizer\u201d novels as well as a memoir titled \u201cOne More Thing, Sir\u2026\u201d about his experiences writing in Hollywood.<\/p>\n Sloan is survived by his wife of 35 years, Melissa, as well as their two children, Piper and Griffin, and his sister, Judy. Donations may be made to the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals<\/a> to honor his love for animals.<\/p>\n Best of Variety<\/strong><\/p>\n Sign up for Variety’s Newsletter<\/a>. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook<\/a>, Twitter<\/a>, and Instagram<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n \u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source ca.news.yahoo.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Michael Sloan, the television writer and producer who co-created TV series \u201cThe Equalizer\u201d with Richard Lindheim, died Wednesday in New York City. He was 78. Born in New York City in 1946, Sloan was exposed to the entertainment industry from an early age. His grandfather, Fred Stone, was a vaudeville performer known for playing the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1962581,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25173],"tags":[305028,346128,346125,346129,346132,25614,346130,346126,346131,346134,346133,346127],"class_list":["post-1962580","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-artists","tag-entertainment-industry","tag-fred-stone","tag-michael-sloan","tag-michael-sloane","tag-nancy-drew-mysteries","tag-new-york-city","tag-paula-stone","tag-richard-lindheim","tag-the-equalizer","tag-the-hardy-boys","tag-the-wizard-of-oz","tag-universal-television"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Michael-Sloan-Co-Creator-of-\u2018The-Equalizer-Dies-at-78.jpeg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1962580","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1962580"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1962580\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1962581"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1962580"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1962580"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1962580"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}