Ken Pettus

Ken Pettus entered television writing in the late 1950s, beginning with contributions to the syndicated crime series Mike Hammer (1958–1959), where he wrote 19 episodes under the pseudonym Steven Thornley. This marked his transition from earlier undocumented work to formally credited television scripting, establishing him in the industry through the detective program based on Mickey Spillane's character. The pseudonym Steven Thornley was primarily employed for his Mike Hammer scripts and appeared in some isolated credits on later projects, while he occasionally used Kenneth Field for other writing assignments. These early efforts under pseudonyms reflected common practices among television writers of the era seeking to build volume or navigate contractual constraints.