William McCleery (1911-2000) was an American playwright and editor. In the 1940s he had two comedies on Broadway, Hope for the Best and Parlor Story, and his adaptation of Peter De Vries's comic novel The Mackerel Plaza remains a staple of repertory theater. McCleery also wrote a dozen plays for television and was an editor at Life magazine, the World War II newspaper P.M., and Ladies' Home Journal.