Bob Gale

Actor Michael J. Fox has referred to Gale as the "gatekeeper of the [Back to the Future] franchise".

Bob Gale studied at University of Southern California, USC School of Cinematic Arts and University City High School. The recorded working language is English. The field of work recorded is cinematography, film production and film screenwriting. Distinctions recorded are Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation.

• Name — Bob Gale • Birth Name — Michael Robert Gale • Born — 25 May 1951 • Birthplace — University City, Missouri, U.S. • Education — University of Southern California, B.A. 1973 • Occupation — Writer • Years Active — 1973–present • Notable Works — Back to the Future

• Illustration — His father, Mark Gale, in 1940. Gale was born to a Jewish family in University City, Missouri; he is the son of Maxine (née Kippel and died in 2010), an art dealer and violinist, and Mark R. Gale (1922–2018), an attorney. Mark Gale was a World War II veteran and later a University City councilman. Bob Gale has two younger brothers: Charlie, who wrote the screenplay for Ernest Scared Stupid, and Randy. Bob Gale received a B.A. in Cinema in 1973 from the University of Southern California, where he met Robert Zemeckis, who was his classmate. As a child, Gale dreamed he would one day "go to Hollywood and work for Walt Disney", who was his hero. As a teen, he created his own comic book, The Green Vomit, using spirit duplication; he was the co-founder of a popular comic book club in St. Louis. Later he and his brother Charlie made their own amateur three-film series parody of the Republic Pictures Commando Cody serials, using the character name "Commando Cus".

As a teenager, Bob Gale was a regular Marvel reader, and his fan letters appeared in Tales of Suspense #98, published in February 1968, and Iron Man #2-3, published in June–July 1968. Gale began writing for comics in the late 90s, and his earliest work includes Ant-Man's Big Christmas for Marvel and Batman for DC Comics. In 2001, he had a short run on Marvel's Daredevil with artists Phil Winslade and Dave Ross. In 2008, Gale worked as one of the writers among the rotating writer/artist teams on The Amazing Spider-Man, which at the time was published three times a month. His other work in comics includes the Back to the Future monthly series published by IDW Publishing. The first issue was released in stores on October 21, 2015, which is the same date that Marty travels with Doc Brown to the future; the comic book is shown as part of the storyline for Part II.

In 1979, Gale published a novelization of 1941. In 2013, he published Retribution High, a novel based on his unproduced screenplay.

• Kolchak: The Night Stalker (episode "Chopper", with Robert Zemeckis, 1975) (TV) • I Wanna Hold Your Hand (with Robert Zemeckis, 1978) • 1941 (with Robert Zemeckis, 1979) • Used Cars (with Robert Zemeckis, 1980) • Back to the Future (with Robert Zemeckis, 1985) • Back to the Future Part II (with Robert Zemeckis, 1989) • Back to the Future Part III (with Robert Zemeckis, 1990) • Trespass (with Robert Zemeckis, 1992) • Back to the Future: The Animated Series (1991–1992) (TV) • Tales from the Crypt (episode "House of Horror", also director, 1993) (TV) • Mr. Payback: An Interactive Movie (also director, 1995) • Bordello of Blood (with Robert Zemeckis, story only, 1996) • Interstate 60: Episodes of the Road (also director, 2002)

• Batman: • The Batman Chronicles #10: "To See the Batman" (prose story with illustrations by Bill Sienkiewicz, anthology, 1997) • Batman: No Man's Land Volume 1 (tpb, 544 pages, 2011) and Batman: No Man's Land Omnibus Volume 1 (hc, 1,136 pages, 2022) include: • Batman: No Man's Land #1 + Batman: Shadow of the Bat #83 + Batman #563 + Detective Comics #730: "No Law and a New Order" (with Alex Maleev, 1999) • Detective Comics #733: "Shades of Grey" (with Phil Winslade, 1999)

• Ant-Man's Big Christmas (with Phil Winslade, one-shot, Marvel Knights, 2000) • Daredevil vol. 2 #20–25 (with Phil Winslade and Dave Ross (#23–24), Marvel Knights, 2001) collected in Marvel Knights: Daredevil — Unusual Suspects (tpb, 472 pages, 2018) • Spider-Man: • The Amazing Spider-Man: • Brand New Day Volume 1 (hc, 200 pages, 2008; tpb, 2008) includes: • "The Astonishing Aunt May!" (with Phil Winslade, co-feature in #546, 2008) • Brand New Day Volume 2 (hc, 168 pages, 2009; tpb, 2008) includes: • "Freak-Out!" (with Phil Jimenez, #552–554, 2008) • "Freak the Third" (with Barry Kitson, in #558, 2008) • Brand New Day Volume 3 (hc, 120 pages, 2008; tpb, 2009) includes: • "The Other Spider-Man" (with Mike McKone, in #562–563, 2008) • Kraven's First Hunt (hc, 112 pages, 2008; tpb, 2009) includes: • "Threeway Collision!" (co-written by Gale, Dan Slott and Marc Guggenheim, art by Paulo Siqueira, in #564, 2008) • Died in Your Arms Tonight (hc, 192 pages, 2009; tpb, 2010) includes: • "If I was Spider-Man..." (with Mario Alberti, co-feature in #600, 2009) • Origin of the Species (hc, 232 pages, 2011; tpb, 2011) includes: • "Stand Off" (with Karl Kesel, co-feature in #647, 2010) • The Amazing Spider-Man Digital #1–10: "The Private Life of Peter Parker" (with Pat Olliffe, anthology, 2009–2010) • First published in print as the first four issues of the 5-issue limited series titled Peter Parker (2010) • Collected in Spider-Man: Peter Parker (tpb, 136 pages, 2010)

• Back to the Future (scripted by various writers from plots by Gale): • Back to the Future vol. 2 (written by John Barber and Erik Burnham (#1–5), art by various artists, 2015–2017) collected as: • Untold Tales and Alternate Timelines (collects #1–5, tpb, 120 pages, 2017) • Continuum Conundrum (collects #6–11, tpb, 136 pages, 2016) • Who is... Marty McFly? (collects #12–17, tpb, 136 pages, 2017) • Hard Time (collects #18–21, tpb, 96 pages, 2017) • Time Served (collects #22–25, tpb, 104 pages, 2018) • Back to the Future: Citizen Brown #1–5 (written by Erik Burnham, drawn by Alan Robinson, 2016) collected as Back to the Future: Citizen Brown (tpb, 120 pages, 2017) • Back to the Future: Biff to the Future #1–6 (written by Derek Fridolfs, drawn by Alan Robinson, 2017) collected as Back to the Future: Biff to the Future (tpb, 148 pages, 2017) • Back to the Future: Tales from the Time Train #1–6 (written by John Barber, drawn by Megan Levens, 2017–2018) collected as Back to the Future: Tales from the Time Train (tpb, 152 pages, 2018)

Bob Gale worked in cinematography, film production, film screenwriting and comic. He belonged to Writers Guild of America West.

Bob Gale is recorded as screenwriter, film producer, film director and writer.