Mary Kathleen Hite (June 17, 1917[citation needed] – February 18, 1989) was an American writer for radio and television, including writing for the popular Western series Gunsmoke.

[2] All of her grandparents had moved to Kansas during the days of the American frontier, and she noted that all were "great storytellers" about their lives, which she absorbed as a child.

"[5] In the coming years, she also proposed stories and wrote scripts for several television series, including The Jane Wyman Show, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, Mystery Playhouse, Thriller, Gunsmoke, and The Waltons.

[6] Hite's contributions to TV series about the American West were particularly substantive, as she wrote over 100 scripts in total for shows like Gunsmoke, Wagon Train, The Monroes, and Empire.

[7] During the 1950s and 1960s, she was among a small number of female writers for television Westerns and was identified in that period as "one of the top Cowboy-and-Indian scribes of all time".