Writer-producer Glen A. Larson, who created Battlestar Galactica, Knight Rider, Quincy M.E. and a host of other popular television shows, has died from esophageal cancer, confirms the Hollywood Reporter. He was 77.

Larson first rose to fame as a member of The Four Peps, a 1950s pop group, before transitioning to writing and producing television shows. Though he didn’t leave his musical roots far behind, as he continued to contribute to his hit shows’ theme songs.

From 1968 to 1970, Larson wrote and produced episodes for It Takes a Thief, starring Robert Wagner as a burglar who went on to steal for the U.S. government.

Larson went on to pen the teleplay for the TV movie, The Six Million Dollar Man starring Lee Majors in 1973.

The writer-producer next created Quincy M.E., which aired on NBC from 1976 to 1983. The show starred Jack Klugman as a medical examiner who also solved murders for the Los Angeles police department.

Battlestar Galactica, for which he is arguably most well known, aired just one season from 1978-1979 on ABC. According to a 2009 interview with Larson, each episode cost more than $1 million to produce.

Other notable works include, Knight Rider, starring David Hasselhoff as a modern crime fighter who was assisted by a talking Pontiac Trans-Am. The series aired on NBC from 1982 to 1986. Larson’s Magnum P.I. featured Tom Selleck as private investigator based in Hawaii. The popular series ran from 1980 to 1988. Larson created the series with oft-contributor Donald Bellisario, with whom he also created Battlestar Galactica and Quincy M.E.

“If you believe if something, you must will it through, because everything gets in the way,” said Glen A. Larson, in the same 2009 interview. “Everyone tries to steer the ship off course.” He died Friday night at UCLA Medical Center in Santa Monica.