The Snow Creature’s Wilder Dies

Posted by: Loren Coleman on April 28th, 2010

Myles Wilder, 77, who is credited as the writer of the story and the author of the screenplay for the classic film, The Snow Creature (1954), has died.


Wilder passed away on April 20, 2010, from complications of diverticulitis in Temecula, California, according to The Hollywood Reporter and other press accounts.

Wilder’s Abominable Snowman tale is summarized at IMDb:

Botanist Frank Parrish leads an expedition to the Himalayas to seek out new flora, accompanied by hardboiled news photographer Peter Wells. When their lead guide, Subra, learns his wife has been kidnapped by a Yeti, Parrish disbelieves him, so the sherpas commandeer the expedition at gunpoint and turn it into a search-and-rescue party. To Parrish’s surprise, they discover a whole family of Yetis in a cave, and are able to subdue the male and carry it back to civilization, to ship to the USA for study. Subra is forgiven his acts because he was right after all. Wells, meanwhile, phones in the story and Parrish finds his discovery – shipped upright in a meat cooler to maintain its natural environment – detained in the US because Wells’ story refers to it as a snowMAN, and a decision must be made whether this is a customs or immigration matter. During this bureaucratic snafu, the creature escapes its containers and disappears into Los Angeles, mysteriously appearing in different parts of the city. Parrish teams up with police Lt. Dunbar to find the creature, which kills anyone who stands in his way… (plot summary written by Rich Wannen).

The son of director W. Lee Wilder (who was the director of The Snow Creature) and the nephew of Oscar-winning writer-director Billy Wilder, Myles Wilder got his television start by developing, writing and producing the 1956 NBC series “The Adventures of Marco Polo.”

Wilder was the prolific TV comedy screenwriter whose resume includes such classics as “McHale’s Navy” and “The Dukes of Hazzard.” He joined the Ernest Borgnine comedy “McHale’s Navy” in 1963, penning 28 episodes and earning two Emmy nominations during his three-year tenure. Other credits during that time include “The Patty Duke Show,” “Get Smart,” “The Flying Nun” and “My Three Sons.” In the ’70s and ’80s, Wilder wrote and produced “The Dukes of Hazzard,” and also wrote for “The Doris Day Show,” “The Brady Bunch,” “The Addams Family,” “Welcome Back, Kotter,” and “Diff’rent Strokes.”

Wilder’s links to drive-in style movies, nevertheless, predated any of his later comedies.

After retiring in 1989, Myles Wilder moved to Temecula to raise avocados.

Loren Coleman About Loren Coleman
Loren Coleman is one of the world’s leading cryptozoologists, some say “the” leading living cryptozoologist. Certainly, he is acknowledged as the current living American researcher and writer who has most popularized cryptozoology in the late 20th and early 21st centuries. Starting his fieldwork and investigations in 1960, after traveling and trekking extensively in pursuit of cryptozoological mysteries, Coleman began writing to share his experiences in 1969. An honorary member of Ivan T. Sanderson’s Society for the Investigation of the Unexplained in the 1970s, Coleman has been bestowed with similar honorary memberships of the North Idaho College Cryptozoology Club in 1983, and in subsequent years, that of the British Columbia Scientific Cryptozoology Club, CryptoSafari International, and other international organizations. He was also a Life Member and Benefactor of the International Society of Cryptozoology (now-defunct). Loren Coleman’s daily blog, as a member of the Cryptomundo Team, served as an ongoing avenue of communication for the ever-growing body of cryptozoo news from 2005 through 2013. He returned as an infrequent contributor beginning Halloween week of 2015. Coleman is the founder in 2003, and current director of the International Cryptozoology Museum in Portland, Maine.


2 Responses to “The Snow Creature’s Wilder Dies”

  1. sluggo responds:

    I don’t recall this movie but for sure I’ll look for it. Thanks.

  2. simianfever responds:

    Ahhh yes, I recall being upset that the “snow creature” spent a good amount of time languishing in his crate at customs, impatiently waiting for his reveal. Then once the poorly designed carpet man escaped I could only wish he would quickly go back in. Fun nonetheless.

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