Norman Jolley, 86; Actor in ‘40s Westerns Wrote TV Series ‘Space Patrol’

Norman Jolley, prolific writer of such series as “Space Patrol,” “Wagon Train” and “Cimarron City” during television’s golden age in the 1950s, has died. He was 86.

Jolley died Aug. 13 at the Mayo Clinic facility in Scottsdale, Ariz., of cardiac arrest following surgery for pancreatic cancer, according to Jean-Noel Bassior, who is writing a book about the “Space Patrol” saga. In recent years, Jolley had lived in Indio, Calif.

The native of Adel, Iowa, began his career as an actor, earning small roles in 1940s westerns. He also acted on radio and later on television.

Jolley was the first bad guy on “Space Patrol,” posing as the evil Agent X. But when the producer decided he needed a writer more than a villain, Agent X was zapped into suspended animation, the worst fate allowed by the stun-gun of real life World War II flying hero Ed Kemmer playing space Cmdr. Buzz Corry.

The program was shown, either locally or nationally, on Saturday mornings or in prime time, from 1950 to 1955. As its primary writer, Jolley became adept at inventing raydurium, endurium, the palm injector and other out-of-this-world gadgets of the technology-challenged mid-20th century. As he conjured such gadgets, he developed a key rule of thumb that he would maintain throughout his career: never violate actual fact.

“Strangely enough,” Jolley told The Times in 1952, “I find that an extension course in engineering that I took at the University of Wisconsin has been a great aid in writing ‘Space Patrol’ scripts. I’ve brushed up on my physics and astronomy to keep the dialogue legitimate and, to date, we’ve never had a complaint from any scientist about error in our stories.”

Jolley also appeared occasionally in the series as the secretary general of the United Planets. But he had largely made the career shift from acting to writing.

He teamed up with another former actor, Dick Bartlett, in 1956 to form Bartlett-Jolley Productions. With Jolley writing, Bartlett directing and both men producing, they made eight movies for Universal-International within two years and worked on critically acclaimed segments of “Wagon Train” and later “Cimarron City” starring the late George Montgomery.

Jolley is survived by his wife, Lois; one son; two daughters; and two grandchildren. No services are planned.