Anthony Lawrence (born 12 May, 1928 in Hollywood, California) is a screenwriter who began his career as an actor in the late 1950s. Moving into writing for television at the start of the 1960s, Lawrence scripted episodes of Bonanza, The Outer Limits, The Rat Patrol and Hawaii Five-O before creating, writing for, and acting as executive story consultant on The Sixth Sense in 1972.
In early 1973 preparations were made for a Planet of the Apes TV show - a series Concept was outlined; Rod Serling wrote a pilot episode; and Anthony Lawrence wrote an episode script titled "A Fallen God", dated March 2, 1973. The production codes on the scripts seem to suggest this was written soon after Serling's script. CBS opted to make The New Perry Mason instead, but by the following year the momentum of Apemania meant another TV pitch was successful. Again, Lawrence wrote an episode - titled "The Deception" - which this time was filmed.
Anthony Lawrence later created and wrote The Phoenix, before taking up production duties on Jessie, Lady Blue and the late-1980s revival of Rod Serling's The Twilight Zone.