Burton Armus

Burton Armus (born December 11, 1934, in New York City, New York) is an American police officer, actor, writer and television producer. Armus' Hollywood career began when, while he was still serving as an NYPD detective assigned to the 48th Squad in the Bronx, he was hired to be the technical advisor on the TV series N.Y.P.D. in 1967. He also wrote the episode "Boys Night Out" for that series. Later, still a serving detective, he was picked by Telly Savalas to act as a technical adviser on the Kojak series. He also acted in three of the episodes, and wrote nine of them. Following his retirement from the police department he moved to Los Angeles and became a successful writer and producer. He is now retired from this second career. Director Richard Donner, who directed three episodes of Kojak, named a detective in his blockbuster film Superman after Armus. The villain "Armus" in "Skin of Evil," an episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation, was named after Armus in a humorous slight from the writers.