Sorry, Wrong Number

Lucille Fletcher (1912-2000) was an American writer born and raised in Brooklyn, New York, whose work spanned the mediums of film, radio, and television. Earlier in her career, she worked at CBS in the publicity department, where she met and later married CBS composer-conductor, Bernard Herrmann. She was also a freelance writer, and began her writing career by writing short stories, several of which were published in The New Yorker. Her short story “My Client Curley” was adapted into a radio play by Norman Corwin and aired in 1940. Four years later, the script inspired a film starring Cary Grant: Once Upon a time.

Fletcher is most well-known for her contributions to the suspense genre, particularly in radio drama. Sorry, Wrong Number is one of her most acclaimed works, earning praise from film legends such as Orson Welles, and later inspiring a feature-length film starring Barbara Stanwyck. The play was selected for inclusion in the Library of Congress’ National Recording Registry in 2015 for its cultural and historical significance to American art. Her script for The Hitch-Hiker was also well-received by audiences and critics alike. It was aired in 1941 as a radio drama on The Orson Welles Show, and scored by Herrmann; the script later became the inspiration for one of the most famous episodes of The Twilight Zone television series in 1960.