Leigh Chapman

Leigh Chapman

Leigh Chapman (March 29, 1939 – November 4, 2014) was an American actress and screenwriter. Chapman began her career in acting during the 1960s, notably in a recurring role as Sarah Johnson, a secretary in the NBC television series, The Man from U.N.C.L.E., 1965. Chapman transitioned to a career in screen and scriptwriting from the 1960s to the 1990s. She focused on writing for action-adventure films, an unusual genre for women scriptwriters in Hollywood during the 1970s. The Hollywood Reporter called Chapman "a pioneering female screenwriter in the action-adventure genre." Her screenwriting credits included Dirty Mary, Crazy Larry in 1974 and The Octagon in 1980.Chapman was born Rosa Lee Chapman in 1939 in Kannapolis, North Carolina. She graduated from Winthrop College (now called Winthrop University), located in Rock Hill, South Carolina. She relocated to Los Angeles during the early 1960s, where she initially hired for her first job as a secretary for the William Morris Agency, a major Hollywood talent agency. She copied scripts for William Morris at night to earn extra income. Her secretarial position led to her early acting roles. The William Morris Agency eventually represented Chapman as a screenwriter.She picked up underwater photography during her later life. An exhibition of her aquatic photographs was held at Calumet Photography in Hollywood in 2011.Leigh Chapman died at her home in West Hollywood on November 4, 2014, at the age of 75. She had been diagnosed with cancer eight months before.

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