Acclaimed Hollywood screenwriter and Dallas creator David Jacobs dies at the age of 84

American screenwriter David Jacobs has died at the age of 84.

His son Aaron confirmed the sad news to The Hollywood Reporter this week.

Jacobs was best known for creating the hit CBS shows Dallas, Knots Landing and Paradise and was said to be the king of TV back in the eighties.

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According to The Hollywood Reporter, Jacobs died on August 20 at a hospital in Burbank, California, after complications from a series of infections.

He also battled Alzheimer's disease in his final years, a type of dementia that causes a decline in memory and behaviour.

He is survived by his three children and grandchildren.

Jacobs previously wrote for magazines before turning to screenwriting.

"I had never planned it that way, but writing for magazines is the perfect apprenticeship for television," Jacobs once said about his change of career, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

"You have to build the character fast, and you have to write dramatically.

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"The nonfiction helped with the size and the technical restrictions, and the fiction got me into the kind of storytelling that you need in television."

Dallas, which ran from 1978 to 1991, was a CBS hit and centered on a wealthy and feuding family called the Ewings, who were oil heirs.

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It starred the likes of Patrick Duffy, Linda Gray and Barbara Bel Geddes and was revived in 2012.

Other shows he created and produced include Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman and Four Corners.