George Eckstein, a television writer and producer who co-wrote the historic final episode of "The Fugitive" television series in the 1960s and produced the acclaimed Steven Spielberg-directed TV-movie "Duel" in the '70s, has died. He was 81.

Mr. Eckstein died of lung cancer Sept. 12 at his Los Angeles home, said his daughter, Jennifer Eckstein.

In a television career that began in the early '60s, Mr. Eckstein amassed a string of credits over the next several decades.

Among them: serving as a producer on "The Name of the Game" TV series, executive producing the "Banacek" TV series, producing the TV movies "Amelia Earhart" and "Tail Gunner Joe" and serving as an executive producer of the TV miniseries "Masada" and "79 Park Avenue" and the TV series "Love, Sidney."

"Duel," the suspenseful 1971 TV movie starring Dennis Weaver as a motorist terrorized by the unseen driver of a tanker truck, proved to be a significant milestone in the budding career of the 24-year-old Spielberg.

"George hired me to direct his ABC Movie of the Week, 'Duel,' and my career was never the same," Mr. Spielberg said in a statement. "I owe so much to him for having the courage to hire a kid to do a man's job. George had passion for telling highly original stories and was a wonderful mentor to me and so many others. I will miss his quiet dignity."

"George was a very thoughtful, soft-spoken, extremely intelligent, very creative producer with a great dry sense of humor," said TV writer and producer Dean Hargrove, who met Mr. Eckstein at Universal around 1970 when they were producers on "The Name of the Game" and later worked with him on various other shows.

Mr. Eckstein launched his TV career as a writer on 1960s series, including "The Untouchables," "Dr. Kildare," "Gunsmoke," "Felony Squad" and "The Invaders."

He also wrote 10 episodes of "The Fugitive," the popular hourlong ABC drama that ran from 1963 to 1967 and starred David Janssen as Dr. Richard Kimble.

Falsely accused of murdering his wife, convicted and sentenced to die, Kimble managed to escape when the train he and his escort, Lt. Philip Gerard (Barry Morse), were riding on was derailed. On the run from Gerard over the next four years, Kimble frequently changed jobs and identities as he crisscrossed the country in search of the one-armed man who actually committed the murder.

Mr. Eckstein, who also was an associate producer and a co-producer on "The Fugitive," teamed with Michael Zagor to co-write the final two-part story, "The Judgment."

When the final episode of "The Fugitive" aired on Aug. 29, 1967, 72 percent of the viewing audience watched it. It was a record for a single episode of a series that was not broken until 1980 when the "Who Shot J.R.?" episode of "Dallas" drew 76 percent of the audience in its time period.

Mr. Eckstein was born in Los Angeles on May 3, 1928. He received a bachelor's degree in theater arts from Stanford University and a master's in theater arts from the University of California, Los Angeles. He also earned a law degree from the University of Southern California.

Mr. Eckstein produced "The Billy Barnes Revue," which ran on Broadway in 1959 with a cast that included Ken Berry, Bert Convy, Joyce Jameson and Ann Guilbert (Eckstein's first wife).

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