Robert Duncan; Novelist, TV Scriptwriter

Robert L. Duncan, prolific novelist, television scriptwriter and documentarian who specialized in Far Eastern mysteries, military sagas and tales of the American West, has died. He was 71.

Duncan died Jan. 28 of pneumonia in Norman, Okla.

Among the best-known of his two dozen novels were the 1978 “Firestorm,” about an American shipbuilder uncovering corruption in Japan, and the 1979 “Brimstone,” about a Washington computer technician who discovers a secret operation connected to the missing 18-minute segment of the Nixon White House tapes.

Born in Oklahoma City, Duncan often wrote with his wife, Wanda Scott Duncan, under the joint name of W.R. Duncan. Among their team efforts were a biography of dancer Irene Castle in 1958 titled “Castles in the Air” and a 1982 novel, “The Queen’s Messenger.”

Duncan also wrote novels in the 1960s under the pseudonym James Hall Roberts. Among those were “The Q Document,” “The Burning Sky” and “The February Plan.”

In his half-century career, Duncan wrote more than 100 television scripts for such series as “The U.S. Steel Hour,” “G.E. Theater,” “The Man From Blackhawk,” “Two Faces West,” “Bonanza,” “Have Gun, Will Travel,” “Custer,” “Dr. Kildare,” “The Virginian,” “Slattery’s People” and “Lost in Space.”

With bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the University of Oklahoma, Duncan taught writing there for several years. In the late 1960s, he lectured at UC Irvine and was writer in residence at Chapman College in Orange.

Duncan is survived by his wife and his daughter, Mary Long of Oklahoma City, two grandchildren and one great-grandchild.