Barbara Esensten (Mar 7, 1937-Nov 14, 2012) was an American writer, who served as Head Writer for the ABC soap opera Port Charles.
Esensten and Brown worked together for over 20 years, starting on the prime-time serial Dynasty. Together, they created the soap opera The City, a spinoff of Loving.
Biography[]
Barbara Esensten (née Sills) was born in Los Angeles, California to Rose Fischer and Max Edward Sills. She had an older sister, Phyllis, and a younger brother, Stanley. The family lived in a middle-class neighborhood (now part of Watts, California). Barbara and Stanley attended Woodcrest elementary school, Bret Hart Junior High School, and Washington High School, all of which are in Southern Los Angeles. Barbara graduated with a bachelor's degree in Political Science from UCLA. Most of her adult life, Barbara and her husband Jack, lived in the affluent Palos Verdes, south of Los Angeles. Barbara was an accomplished pianist, an avid reader, and very much loved her family.
Trivia[]
- Esensten and her writing partner James Harmon Brown tended to drift towards supernatural and science fiction elements in the shows they were hired for. When the two wrote for Guiding Light during the later part of the 1990s, the show's primary heroine, Reva Shayne, was cloned, and when the duo would later write for Port Charles, vampires were introduced, along with other supernatural creatures. The duo also wrote for the ABC soap All My Children.
Head Writing History[]
| Predecessor | Port Charles |
|---|---|
| Karen Harris Barbara Bloom (2000) |
James Harmon Brown Barbara Esensten (2000-2003) |
