Donald P. Bellisario was born in North Charleroi in Pennsylvania. His father ran the tavern, where he grew up listening to the war stories of vets returning from WWII. He had a fifteen-year career in advertising before moving to Hollywood. He broke into television as the story editor for Pazifikgeschwader 214 (1976). His most celebrated works to date are Navy CIS (2003), Magnum (1980), Zurück in die Vergangenheit (1989), and J.A.G. - Im Auftrag der Ehre (1995). He has been married four times, and has seven children (one of whom is deceased), two stepchildren, and eight grandchildren.
