Lois Peyser; Screenwriter Taught at AFI

Lois Peyser, an award-winning screenwriter and the first person hired to teach that subject when the American Film Institute began offering writing classes, died Friday at her Brentwood home. She was 70.

A spokeswoman said she had lost a two-year battle with ovarian cancer.

With her husband, Arnold Peyser, she had a string of successes in film and television writing. One of the high points of her career came in 1988 when she was honored with the Writers Guild Valentine Davies award, given annually to one who has “brought dignity and honor to writers everywhere.”

She was praised as a writer and mentor, and the couple were regulars on episodic television. Their credits include multiple scripts for “My Three Sons,” “The Dick Van Dyke Show,” “Love, American Style,” “Mission: Impossible” and many more.

They also wrote for many of the best dramatic shows on TV, including the Alcoa, Goodyear and General Electric series. A videocassette of their Elvis Presley picture, “The Trouble With Girls,” was recently released, while their latest work was the Fred Allen play “From Boston to Portland,” which opened in Boston last year.

In 1972, the American Film Institute hired her to start a screenwriting class and she taught and offered seminars at AFI while serving as a consultant for the Directing Women’s Workshops and as a teacher in Brussels, Moscow and Stockholm.

In addition to her husband of 45 years, she is survived by two sons, three grandchildren, two sisters and a brother.

Private services are scheduled for Feb. 25 at noon at the Mark Goodson Theater at AFI. Donations may be made to the Lois Peyser Scholarship Fund for beginning writers at AFI.