The couple were writers on the
Western series
Have Gun, Will Travel, but became famous in the soap world in 1957 when they began writing for the
CBS Daytime show
Search for Tomorrow. They continued to write for it even after co-creating a new show,
General Hospital, in 1963. (Another married writing team, Theodore and Mathilde Ferro, wrote the show in its early months.) This medical drama was the first serious effort by
ABC Daytime to create a daytime serial. Today,
General Hospital is the longest-running daytime serial on American television. The duo
head wrote the show until 1973, when they handed the reins to their daughter and son-in-law,
Bridget and Jerome Dobson. In 1969, the Hursleys created and wrote the
NBC Daytime soap opera
Bright Promise that starred
Dana Andrews as college president Tom Boswell. However, they soon left that series and it was eventually cancelled in 1972. The Hursleys retired from writing serials after being fired in 1973.
Credits Love, American Style, Wagon Train, Have Gun – Will Travel, Whirlybirds, The Adventures of Jim Bowie, The Millionaire, Dr. Christian, Lassie, Matinee Theatre, The 20th Century-Fox Hour, The Moon is Blue Awards/nominations Frank and Doris were nominated for a
Daytime Emmy Awards in 1974. They shared this nomination with their daughters Bridget (Dobson) and Deborah (Hardy).
Lawsuit In April, 2011, the Hursleys' daughters filed a lawsuit against
ABC over unpaid royalties. They claim that their parents struck a deal with ABC years earlier to reap 10% of all profits from the syndication of the show, but allege that ABC failed to pay the full amount owed to the creators. The lawsuit was ultimately settled out of court. ==Personal lives==