Biography
The son of a West Virginian judge, William Lively (born William Edison Lively) appeared with a vaudeville act, directed dance bands, worked in advertising and as a newspaper reporter and a talent agent prior to entering films in 1935 as an assistant director. As a screenwriter, Lively worked in some of the cheapest Westerns possible and later went into the closely related field of serials, co-writing such genre classics as
Jungle Girl (1941),
Spy Smasher (1942), and
Perils of Nyoka (1942), all for Republic Pictures. He remained in the B-Western and serial field well into the 1950s, spending his final years at the Motion Picture Country House in Woodland Hills, CA. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide