Jo Pagano was an author and screenwriter who spent 30 years in the film and television industries. Born Jo Jean Pagano in Denver, CO, in 1906 to an Italian immigrant family, he began writing in childhood and turned it into his chosen profession by the time he was in his twenties. After selling stories to various magazines and establishing the beginnings of a reputation, he headed to Hollywood in the second half of the 1930s and received his first official screen credit in 1938. During this period, Pagano was befriended by William Faulkner -- of whom Pagano was already a big fan -- who served as something of a mentor to him over the next few years. Pagano's early credits ran the gamut from romances to westerns to B-thrillers, but he never let the relatively low expectations of the studios affect his work in a negative way. Pagano's most notable early screen credit was the script for the topical World War II drama Hotel Berlin (1945), based on the novel by Vicki Baum.
In 1947, Pagano published his third book, The Condemned, which was based on the true story of a lynching that took place in San Jose, CA, in 1933. The book wasn't a commercial success, but it attracted the attention of producer Robert Stillman, who licensed the film rights and engaged Pagano to write the screenplay. The 1951 movie, directed by Cy Endfield, was just as powerful as the book -- perhaps even more so. The grim portrait of postwar America outraged a lot of critics. Despite the negative reception at the time, the film retained a cult following, enhanced by television showings in the 1960s and 1970s. Pagano continued writing for movies, including at least one installment of the "Jungle Jim" series at Columbia Pictures (Jungle Moon Men). By the end of the 1950s, he had switched to writing for television, and over the next decade authored episodes of The Millionaire, Naked City, Route 66, and Bonanza. He died in 1982 at the age of 76.
