Henning's original tale was about two con men—one seasoned and sophisticated, one rough and vulgar—who team up to work the Riviera, bilking impressionable women out of their money and jewels. The 1964 film starred David Niven and Marlon Brando as the duo. Frank Oz remade the film in 1988 as "Dirty Rotten Scoundrels," casting Michael Caine and Steve Martin in the leads. David Yazbek and Jeffrey Lane adapted the second film into a stage musical, currently playing on Broadway with John Lithgow and Norbert Leo Butz starring. The show opened to mixed-to-positive reviews.

Mr. Henning is probably best known to the public for "The Beverly Hillbillies," the comedy series he created. The show, about a family of hicks who strike it rich and become clueless fish out of water among the Tinseltown elite, was savaged by critics, but was wildly popular with audiences. It ran from 1962 to 1971, and had many more lives on syndicated television.

Born in Missouri, he wrote for several other series, often set in rural locales, including "The Andy Griffith Show" and "Petticoat Junction."