Donald Paul Bellisario (born August 8, 1935) is an American television producer and screenwriter who created and sometimes wrote episodes for the TV series Magnum, P.I.

Magnum, P.I.

Magnum, P.I. is an American television series starring Tom Selleck as Thomas Magnum, a private investigator living on Oahu, Hawaii. The series ran from 1980 to 1988 in first-run broadcast on the American CBS television network....

, Airwolf

Airwolf

Airwolf is an American television series that ran from 1984 until 1987. The program centers on a high-tech military helicopter, code named Airwolf, and its crew as they undertake various missions, many involving espionage, with a Cold War theme....

, Quantum Leap, JAG

JAG (TV series)

JAG is an American adventure/legal drama television show that was produced by Belisarius Productions, in association with Paramount Network Television and, for the first season only, NBC Productions...

, and NCIS

NCIS (TV series)

NCIS, formerly known as NCIS: Naval Criminal Investigative Service, is an American police procedural drama television series revolving around a fictional team of special agents from the Naval Criminal Investigative Service, which conducts criminal investigations involving the U.S...

. He has often included military veterans as characters.
Bellisario was born in Cokeburg

Cokeburg, Pennsylvania

Cokeburg is a borough in Washington County, Pennsylvania, United States, founded in 1902. The population was 705 at the 2000 census.-Geography:Cokeburg is located at ....

, Pennsylvania

Pennsylvania

The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...

 to a Serbian

Serbian American

Serbian Americans are citizens of the United States who are of Serbian ancestry. For the 2000 US Census, 140,337 Americans indicated Serbian as their first ancestry, while 170,312 persons declared to have Serbian ancestry...

 mother Dana (née Lapcevic) and an Italian

Italian American

An Italian American , is an American of Italian ancestry. The designation may also refer to someone possessing Italian and American dual citizenship...

 father Albert Bellisario, who was born in Gamberale

Gamberale

Gamberale is a village and comune in the Province of Chieti in the Abruzzo region of central Italy.-Geography:The village is 81 kilometres from Chieti, the provincial capital. It lies high in the Apennine Mountains, at an altitude of 1,343 m....

, Abruzzo, Italy.