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Birthday
Richard Anthony Wolf was born in New York City -
Early life
He was an altar boy and attended Saint David's School, The Gunnery,and the University of Pennsylvania (class of 1969), where he belonged to the Zeta Psi fraternity. He also attended Phillips Academy. -
Advertising
Wolf worked as an advertising copywriter at Benton & Bowles creating commercials for Crest toothpaste, including the slogan "You can't beat Crest for fighting cavities." He is also credited with the campaign "I'm Cheryl, fly me" for National Airlines. Yet despite his success in copywriting, all the while he was writing screenplays in the hopes of a film career. It was at this time that he briefly collaborated on a screenplay with Oliver Stone, who was a struggling screenwriter at the time. -
Writer
He started his television career as a staff writer on Hill Street Blues and was nominated for his first Emmy for an episode entitled "What Are Friends For?" -
Writer-Co-executive
Wolf moved from Hill Street Blues to Miami Vice, where he was a writer and co-producer for the third and fourth seasons. -
Law & Order
Wolf's Law & Order, which ran from 1990 to 2010, has been nominated for the most consecutive Emmy Awards of any primetime drama series. Wolf serves as creator and executive producer of the current Law & Order drama series : Special Victims Unit (which as of May 2019 is the longest-running scripted primetime drama, having aired 458 episodes, breaking the original Law & Order count of 456, and being renewed for a record-breaking twenty-first season. -
Chicago Fire, Chicago P.D.
Wolf developed Chicago Fire, a drama about a group of men and women working at the Chicago Fire Department. The series was picked up by NBC in May 2012, and premiered on October 10, 2012, with meek numbers in the ratings and minimal reviews in the first few weeks before spiking to NBC's #2 scripted drama series, under Revolution.In March 2013, NBC announced intentions for a spin-off of Chicago Fire, revolving around the Chicago Police Department. -
Chicago Med, and Chicago Justice
Two subsequent shows, Chicago Med, which premiered in 2015, and Chicago Justice, whose one season began and ended in 2017, followed in Chicago P.D.'s wake. -
FBI
In 2018, Wolf became executive producer of the CBS drama FBI. -
FBI Most Wanted
FBI.Most Wanted is an American crime drama television series spin-off from Dick Wolf's drama FBI.The series premiered on January 7, 2020