Ivan Goff Collection of Television Scripts, 1964-1981

Summary

Abstract:

Ivan Goff was an Oscar-nominated screenwriter who authored a number of successful movies from 1949-1960 with his writing partner, Ben Roberts. Goff and Roberts also wrote and produced several successful series for television in the 1960s and 1970s. The collection contains scripts and production notes from three television series in which Goff was involved as a writer or producer: Mannix, Nero Wolfe and The Rogues.

Extent:

27.5 Linear Feet (22 boxes)

Language:

Materials are in English.

Preferred citation:

[Box/folder# or item name], Ivan Goff Collection of Television Scripts, Collection no. 0004, Special Collections and University Archives, University Libraries, Pepperdine University.

Background

Scope and content:

The collection consists of episode scripts for the television series Mannix, Nero Wolfe, and The Rogues, along with documents created by staff during the production of an episode. These include production reports, call sheets, script supervisor reports, program practices notes, cast sheets, research reports, and outlines and drafts of episode scripts. Miscellaneous items include a script for an episode of a police show, student papers about the film Citizen Kane, and a book about multicultural education.

Biographical / historical:

Ivan Goff was born in Perth, Australia, on April 17, 1910. He began his career as a journalist for a local newspaper, but came to dislike the relative isolation of the country from the rest of the world. He eventually made his way to England where he worked several jobs while trying to break into journalism.

In 1936, Goff became the Hollywood Correspondent for the London Daily Mirror. Goff decided to settle in Hollywood, where he worked as a staff writer at Republic Studios and then Warner Brothers.

At the start of World War II, Goff joined the Army Signal Corps, and made propaganda shorts in New York. During this time, Goff met a fellow writer named Ben Roberts and started a writing partnership with him that lasted 39 years.

Goff and Roberts' first work was the play Portrait in Black, which had runs in London and Broadway and was developed into a movie in 1960. The duo also wrote several movies for Warner Brothers, including White Heat (1949), and Man of a Thousand Faces (1957), for which they received an Oscar nomination. From 1954-55 Goff served as the President of the Screen Writer Guild.

In the 1960s, Goff and Roberts shifted to working in television, writing and producing a number of series, including The Rogues (1964), Mannix (1967-75), and Charlie's Angels (1976-81).

Goff married actress Natalie Draper in 1948, but the marriage ended in divorce in 1964. They had three sons, Kevin, Trevor, and Brian. Goff died at the age of 89 in Santa Monica, CA, on September 23, 1999.

Acquisition information:

The collection was received from Ivan Goff in a number of installments beginning April 7, 1976.

Processing information:

The collection was processed by Jessica Geiser and Jamie Henricks in January, 2012. The finding aid was updated by Katie Richardson and Jon King in July, 2013.

Arrangement:

The materials in the collection were arranged by television series, and then alphabetically by episode title. This arrangement scheme was imposed during processing in the absence of a usable original order. The collection is arranged in four series: Series 1. Mannix; Series 2. Nero Wolfe; Series 3. The Rogues; and Series 4. Miscellaneous.

Physical location:

Pepperdine University. Special Collections and University Archives.

Rules or conventions:

Describing Archives: A Content Standard

Indexed terms

Subjects:

Television scripts

Restrictions:

Advance notice required for access.

Terms of access:

Permission to publish, quote, or reproduce must be secured from the repository and the copyright holder.

Cast books may not be photocopied.

Preferred citation:

[Box/folder# or item name], Ivan Goff Collection of Television Scripts, Collection no. 0004, Special Collections and University Archives, University Libraries, Pepperdine University.

Location of this collection:

Pepperdine University. Special Collections and University Archives

24255 Pacific Coast Highway

Malibu, CA 90263-4786, US

Contact:

(310) 506-4323

specialcollections@pepperdine.edu

Website