Dick Wolf (aka Richard Anthony Wolf) was born December 20, 1946, in New York City. He attended Saint David’s School, The Gunnery, and Phillips Academy. He then attended the University of Pennsylvania (class of 1969).
You may recognize his name as it has been seen at the end of many television shows. He is infamous for his creation of the “Law & Order” TV series of shows. At first, he was an advertising copywriter at Benton & Bowles. There he created commercials for Procter & Gamble’s Crest toothpaste which included creating the “You can’t beat Crest for fighting cavities” slogan. He is also credited for the 1971 National Airlines campaign “I’m Cheryl, fly me”. While working as a copywriter he collaborated with struggling screenwriter Oliver Stone. One of his first films, that Dick was screenwriter, was the 1988 “Masquerade”.
He was also working as a staff writer for NBC. His first solely written episode was ‘What Are Friends For?’ for “Hill Street Blues”, December 5, 1985. This got him his first Emmy nomination. During this timeframe, he met Tom Fontana who was writing for “St. Elsewhere” with whom he became close friends. From 1986-1988 Dick wrote for and co-produced seasons 3-4 for NBC’s “Miami Vice”.
In 1990 came the Dick Wolf created the American police procedural and legal drama television series “Law & Order”. He would also be the executive producer for all 20 seasons on NBC.
The spin-off show “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit” began in 1999 and is still on the air at the time of this post. Special Victims Unit ranks fourth in terms of all-time episode count for a primetime scripted series. In the franchise is “Law & Order: Trial by Jury”, “Law & Order: UK”, and “Law & Order: Los Angeles”;
the television film “Exiled”; video games “Dead on the Money”, “Double or Nothing”, “Justice Is Served”, “Criminal Intent” and “Legacies”; and several international adaptations.
My favorite, in the franchise, is “Law & Order: Criminal Intent” starring Vincent D’Onofrio. It is an American police procedural drama television series set in New York City that follows the actions of the ‘Major Case Squad’. The series ran 10 seasons, ending June 26, 2011. D’Onofrio left the series in the season 9 premiere, which aired in two parts on March 30 and April 6, 2010, and the show wasn’t as good for the rest of its airing.
Dick wolf also created shows like “New York Undercover” which aired for 4 seasons on FOX (94-99), “Crime & Punishment” on NBC airing for 3 seasons (2002-2004), and he was one of the producers of “Twin Towers”, a documentary about 9/11 and won an Oscar award for Best Documentary Short in 2003. Dick produced the 2009 music documentary film “When You’re Strange” that was about the popular American rock band ‘The Doors’.
He also created and produced the ‘Chicago series’. The shows so far are “Chicago Fire” (October 10, 2012– present), “Chicago P.D.” (January 8, 2014– present), “Chicago Med” (November 17, 2015– present), and “Chicago Justice” (March 1, 2017– May 14, 2017). He also created the TV show “FBI” (2018-2021), FBI: International (2021- Present), and another one of my favorites, FBI: Most Wanted (2020 – Present). This spin-off from the show “FBI” is an American crime drama television series created by René Balcer and produced by Wolf Entertainment
He has also penned four books among which “Law & Order: Crime Scenes” (2003), the non-fiction volume, is a companion to the “Law & Order” TV series. Dick collaborated with N.Y.P.D. Detective Jeremy Fisk for writing the other three books, all of which are works of fiction, namely “The Execution” (1984), “The Intercept” (2012), and “The Ultimatum” (2015). These three novels are volumes in a thriller series whose central character is Detective Fisk. Dick Wolf received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 7040 Hollywood Boulevard and has been inducted into the Television Academy Hall of Fame.
