A former explosives consultant and mining foreman who turned to scriptwriting, Les Crutchfield was one of the major writers for "Gunsmoke" on both radio and television (he wrote 81 scripts for the radio program alone). During college he studied chemistry, mathematics, and engineering, but became a prolific writer for the network radio programs popular during the late 40s and 50s, including "Romance" and "Fort Laramie."
