Lorenzo Elliott Semple Jr. (March 27, 1923, New Rochelle, New York, USA - March 28, 2014, Brentwood, California, USA) was an American screenwriter. He wrote a number of films which were both financial and critical successes and today is remembered for his work on adventure and thriller films, including The Parallax View, The Drowning Pool, Three Days of the Condor, the 1976 remake of King Kong, and Flash Gordon. The former three earned him nominations for the Edgar Allan Poe Award for Best Motion Picture Screenplay, while the latter resulted in a Hugo Award nomination for Best Dramatic Presentation. He also wrote the screenplay for the James Bond film Never Say Never Again.
Prior to establishing his career in film, Semple was hired by William Dozier to develop what would become the 1966 Batman TV series, which he also went on to write the first four episodes of. Following the success of Batman, he wrote episodes six and seven of The Green Hornet TV series: Beautiful Dreamer parts one and two.
Semple is interred at Aspen Grove Cemetery.