Michael Sloan Dies: Co-Creator Of ‘The Equalizer’, Longtime Husband Of Melissa Sue Anderson Was 78

Date:2025-08-16 06:06:35 Category:entertainment Views:2 Comment:0

Michael Sloan, the writer-producer who co-created with Richard Lindheim the durable 1980s TV series The Equalizer, died August 13. He was 78.

His death was announced by his family, which includes his wife of 35 years, the actor Melissa Sue Anderson, who starred in NBC’s Little House on the Prairie in the 1970s and ’80s. The family announcement did not name a place or cause of death but noted that he passed away peacefully.

More from Deadline

Michael Fred Sloan was born to a show business family on October 14, 1946, in New York City. His grandfather, Fred Stone, was a vaudeville performer who played the Scarecrow in the 1902 Broadway production of The Wizard of Oz, and his parents Paula Stone and Michael Sloane were Broadway stage producers.

The family moved to London when Sloan was young, and it was there that he would later begin to write and produce feature films. He had returned to America where he wrote an acclaimed 1976 episode of Columbo titled “Now You See Him,” effectively launching his career.

Among the programs for which he subsequently wrote or produced were Quincy M.E. (for which he received an Emmy nomination), Harry O, McCloud, The Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries, Battlestar Galactica, Kung Fu: The Legend Continues, The Return of the Man From U.N.C.L.E. and numerous episodes of The New Alfred Hitchcock Presents.

It was while working on a 1989 episode The New Alfred Hitchcock Presents that Sloan met Anderson, a guest star on that week’s episode. The couple married in 1990.

Sloan is perhaps best remembered for his co-creation of The Equalizer, the 1985-89 television series starring Edward Woodward as the mysterious justice-seeker Robert McCall. The series was rebooted in 2021, and has spawned a hit movie franchise starring Denzel Washington. Sloan was a producer of the films, and also wrote a series of Equalizer novels.

For the stage, Sloan wrote the 1989 thriller Underground, which was produced in Toronto and on London’s West End.

In addition to his wife, Sloan is survived by their children Piper and Griffin; sister Judy. In lieu of flowers, the family asks that donations be made to the ASPCA in honor of Michael’s deep love for animals.

Best of Deadline