Sad news to report today as it has been announced that writer and producer David Giler, best known for his involvement in the Alien franchise, has died of cancer at the age of 77. His longtime friend and writing and producing partner Walter Hill said, "If you knew David, you knew he was special. The magic of his personality is hard to describe: funny, angry, extremely knowledgeable, extremely well read; it was my privilege to write and produce with him, and more importantly, to have his close and deep friendship for nearly 50 years."
After getting his start writing Myra Breckinridge, a sex comedy adaptation of Gore Vidal's novel of the same name, David Giler went on to have a hand in writing The Parallax View, The Black Bird, Fun with Dick and Jane, Southern Comfort, The Money Pit, Aliens, Beverly Hills Cop II, Alien 3, and Undisputed. Together with Walter Hill and Gordon Carroll, David Giler also formed Brandywine Productions, which is where they produced and rewrote the script for Ridley Scott's Alien, but Walter Hill and himself battled with original Alien screenwriter Dan O'Bannon over who was to receive the screenplay credit. O'Bannon won out, but Giler and Hill would go on to co-wrote the scripts for both Aliens and Alien 3 as well as serve as producers on all the Alien projects made since.
On the small-screen side of things, David Giler also wrote episodes of The Gallant Men, Kraft Suspense Theatre, Burke's Law, The Girl from U.N.C.L.E., The Man from U.N.C.L.E., and The Bold Ones: The Lawyers, as well as produced Tales from the Crypt, Tales from the Cryptkeeper, and Perversions of Science. Giler also executive produced the Tales from the Crypt movies, Bordello of Blood and Demon Knight.