Francine Carroll, 83; ran TV production firm with husband

Francine Carroll, 83, who ran a television production company with her husband and created the 1970s series “Amy Prentiss,” died Friday of natural causes at Encino-Tarzana Regional Medical Center, said Bonnie J. Chermak, one of her three daughters.

In 1999, Carroll shared a Humanitas Prize nomination for the teleplay “Rescuers: Stories of Courage” with her husband, Cy Chermak, who survives her, and Paul Monash. The Showtime production told the true stories of two couples who risked their lives to save Jews from the Holocaust.

She also wrote for the TV series “The Virginian” and “Ironside,” an NBC drama produced by the couple’s Francy Productions. Among the company’s other shows were “ChiPS” and “Kolchak: The Night Stalker.”

Carroll was “progressive,” her daughter said, but audiences for “Amy Prentiss” were less so. Jessica Walter won an Emmy playing San Francisco’s first female chief of detectives, but viewers did not readily take to the idea of a woman as a police boss, according to “The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network and Cable TV Shows.” The show was canceled in 1975 after a short run.

Francine Epstein was born in 1924 in New York City and started using the last name of Carroll while writing detective fiction for magazines.

As a young woman, she attended the University of Arizona. She earned a bachelor’s degree in theater arts from UCLA when she was 48. A Woodland Hills resident, Carroll taught theater arts at Cal State Northridge.