Ed Friendly

Ed Friendly

Edwin "Ed" S. Friendly Jr. (April 8, 1922 – June 17, 2007) was a multiple-Emmy-nominated television producer who was responsible for creating several successful television programs, including Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In, Little House on the Prairie, and Backstairs at the White House.

Ed Friendly served with the United States Army in the Pacific Theater of Operations during World War II. After the war, he worked at the advertising agency of Batten, Barton, Durstine & Osborn. He began his television career in 1949, working for ABC as director of sales before moving to CBS as a contract producer and then, in 1959, NBC as vice-president of special programs.

Friendly moved to California in 1967 and formed his own production company, Ed Friendly Productions, Inc. He received the Western Heritage Award from the National Cowboy Hall of Fame in 1975 for Little House on the Prairie and in 1978 for Peter Lundy and the Medicine Hat Stallion