Calvin J. Clements was born February 14, 1915 in Jersey City, New Jersey, and attended high school for one year. He joined the Navy when he was 16 and traveled extensively in South Asia and the Pacific. After a short stint as a prison guard, he became a fireboat pilot in the New York City Fire Department, and retired after 20 years to take up writing. Clements is best known as the author of adventure stories, three novels for Gold Medal Books, and various movie and TV screenplays, including 39 episodes of Gunsmoke. He died March 11, 1997 in Tarzana, California.