Quinn Martin (May 22, 1922 – September 6, 1987), born Irwin Cohn, was one of the most successful American television producers. He had at least one program running in prime time for 21 straight years (from 1959 to 1980), an industry record.
A 1949 graduate of the University of California, Berkeley, Martin started his career in television as a film editor at MGM, but by the mid-1950's had become an executive producer for Desilu Studios. His first wife, Madelyn Pugh Davis, was one half of the writing team behind Desilu's classic, I Love Lucy.
In 1960, Martin established his own production company, QM Productions. He sold it in 1978 and worked as an adjunct professor at the University of California, San Diego's Warren College, where he also endowed a chair in drama. He also established a scholarship for theater arts and communications students at Santa Clara University.
The eponymously-named QM Productions produced a string of hit television series during the 1960s and 1970s, including The Fugitive, Twelve O'Clock High, The F.B.I., The Invaders, The Streets of San Francisco, Cannon, and Barnaby Jones. His series were known for their highly stylized format: a prologue featuring a stern-voice narrator to establish the premise; explicitly announced Acts I, II, III, and IV; and an epilogue, again featuring the narrator.
In 1979, a group of investors purchased QM Productions and subsequently sold it to Taft Broadcasting, which itself has since changed hands, from Worldvision Enterprises to Republic Pictures. Today, Republic and CBS Paramount Television/CBS Studios own ancillary rights to all of QM's library except Twelve o'Clock High (owned by 20th Television), Banyon and The F.B.I. (the latter two of which are owned by both the Martin estate and Warner Bros. Television), with CBS Television Distribution handling TV distribution and Paramount Home Entertainment/CBS DVD handling DVD distribution.
