Stephen Lodge

Stephen Lodge is the co-writer of Kenny Rogers' only down-and-dirty Western epic, the CBS TV movie Rio Diablo (1993), co-starring Travis Tritt, Naomi Judd and Stacy Keach. His first major screenwriting credit was for the United Artists feature The Honkers (1972) starring James Coburn. Soon after he was writing, producing and directing his own film, One Block Away (1975). Another of Lodge's films, Kingdom of the Spiders (1977) starring Star Trek (1966)'s William Shatner, has gone on to become a favorite late-night TV cult horror classic. Steve was influenced greatly by "B" westerns as a youth; he wanted to be an actor from a very early age and found visits to movie sets fascinating. The gift of an 8mm movie camera at age 10 allowed him to write, direct and star in his own "productions". He began his professional acting career at 12; at age 16 he performed at Hollywood's famous Corriganville western movie ranch. After college he was hired by Columbia Pictures; his interest in writing had been seriously developing since high school. During his two years at Columbia, he was assistant to the producer on TV's Camp Runamuck (1965). After that, he would spend several seasons as a costumer on the classic TV series The Fugitive (1963). Steve has spent his entire life around the movie business, working on numerous TV series, made-for-TV movies and features. He presently makes his home in Rancho Mirage, California, near Palm Springs, where he lives with his wife Beth and their two dogs, Hollie and Crystal. Since moving to the desert he has written, produced and directed a 90-minute TV special, "Bordello"; authored several articles for various magazines; and completed additional screenplays, including an adaptation of his novel, "Shadows of Eagles," "Charley Sunday's Texas Outfit!," and "Nickel-Plated Dream."