Lester Pine; Writer for TV, Movies

Lester Pine, 84, a stand-up comedian of the 1940s who became a television and motion picture writer for such series as “Ben Casey” and such films as “Claudine,” starring Diahann Carroll, died Saturday in Los Angeles of prostate cancer.

A native of Chicago, Pine established himself in the mid-1950s as a writer for such TV series as “Mr. Lucky,” “Dobie Gillis” and the pioneering medical show “Ben Casey.”

With his late wife, Tina, Pine wrote such films as the 1966 “A Man Called Adam” starring Sammy Davis Jr., Louis Armstrong and Mel Torme. The Pines also wrote “Claudine” and the 1969 film “Popi” starring Alan Arkin and Rita Moreno. They later turned “Popi” into a 1975-76 television series featuring Hector Elizondo as a hard-working Puerto Rican widower supporting his two young sons in New York City.

Pine continued writing novels, plays and screenplays until his death.