Ande Lamb

Ande Lamb (born Robert Anderson Bursley Jr.; September 12, 1901 – March 16, 1961) was an American film and television writer, producer and director, active in the 1940s—primarily in B-films and serials—and 50s, when he penned numerous Hopalong Cassidy and Cisco Kid episodes. He was also the principal writer on Craig Kennedy, Criminologist. Lamb was the son of Robert Anderson Bursley Sr. and Edna M. Lamb, a musically and theatrically inclined New Orleans native who had until recently taught at the Fifth Ward School No. 1 in Ama, Louisiana. Following her premature death in 1909, Bursley Sr. married Elizabeth "Bessie" Surcouf in 1911.

Bursley Jr.'s professional transition to "Ande Lamb" was first noted in 1937, regarding a collaboration with director Spencer Bennet on a projected—but, evidently, never realized—6-picture package of films based on racing driver Pete DePaolo's autobiography, Wall Smacker. Such predictions proved overly optimistic, as the production was dealt a resounding thumbs-down by critics and audiences alike.

Given a mixed but markedly warmer reception was Lamb's murder mystery Honeymoon Ghost, staged in 1944 at the Hampshire Playhouse in Los Angeles, and starring Maria Riva (then billed as Maria Manton) While deeming the plot "complicated and slightly far-fetched," LA Times reviewer Katherine Von Blon went on to praise Lamb's "clearly-limned characters," adding that "many of the situations were rife with suspense and certain comic implication."

Personal life and death The first of Lamb's marriages, both of which ended in divorce, came in February 1926, preceding by more than a decade the transition from Bursley to his better-known pen name. The bride was Susan Gillett Lewis, and their union produced one child, a daughter, Diane Lewis Bursley. In October 1943, Lamb married actress Ruth C. Anderson. On December 16, 1952, the Los Angeles Mirror reported that Superior Court Judge William McKay had, that day, granted Ruth Lamb an interlocutory divorce decree, based on testimony that Mr. Lamb was, as the Mirror phrased it, "a lion as a husband," impacting both privacy and safety via alternating bouts of eavesdropping and beatings.

On March 16, 1961, Lamb, aged 60, suffered a fatal heart attack in Hollywood. His remains are interred at Holy Cross Cemetery in Culver City.

Not quite six and a half years later, Lamb's only child, the former Diane Bursley—having since become, respectively, Mrs. Robert Armstrong and Mrs. David Miller —died even more prematurely, at age 39 of undisclosed causes, survived by her husband and son.

Filmography Films Year Film Credit Notes1942 Police Bullets Story, screenplay War Dogs Original story 1943 Harvest Melody Story 1944 Follow the Leader Story "East of the Bowery" Mystery of the River Boat Story; adaptation Riders of the Santa Fe Original screenplay 1945 Jungle Queen Original screenplay Brenda Starr, Reporter Original screenplay (As Andy Lamb) The Master Key Screenplay Trouble Chasers Original story; screenplay Renegades of the Rio Grande Original screenplay Jungle Raiders Original screenplay (As Andy Lamb) Who's Guilty? Original screenplay 1946 Moon Over Montana Dialogue director Hop Harrigan America's Ace of the Airways Original screenplay West of the Alamo Dialogue director Lone Star Moonlight Original story; screenplay 1947 Unexpected Guest Screenplay Hoppy's Holiday Screenplay The Case of the Baby Sitter Screenplay Short subject (As Andy Lamb) Mystery Range Producer, director, writer 1948 Strange Gamble Writer (Uncredited) 1950 The Texan Meets Calamity Jane Producer, director, writer

Television Year TV Series Credit Notes 1949 The Lone Ranger Writer 3 Episodes 1952–53 Craig Kennedy, Criminologist Writer 26 Episodes 1950–51,1954–56 The Cisco Kid Writer 3 Episodes7 Episodes 1952–54 Hopalong Cassidy Writer 8 Episodes 1956 The Man Called X Writer 1 Episode 1960 Death Valley Days Writer 1 Episode