Bill S Ballinger was born in Oskaloosa, Iowa. He was educated at the University of Wisconsin, and received his B.A. in 1934. From 1934 he worked in advertising, and as a radio and television writer. After extensive travels in Europe and the Near East, Ballinger moved to southern California, to take advantage of the television 'boom' of the 1950s as a script writer . Between the years 1977 and 1979 he was an associate professor of writing at the California State University, Nortridge. In 1960, Ballinger received for his TV work Edgar Allan Poe Award from Mystery Writers of America. He died on March 23, 1980.