Fred Lorin Bechly (1924-2004) was an American electrical engineer and inventor in the field of color television. Born in May 1924 in Watseka, Illinois, Bechly received his college degree in electrical engineering from the University of Illinois in 1944. In the same year, he joined the Radio Corporation of America’s (RCA) Camden, New Jersey, plant where he, along with H.J. Benzuly, developed the Tricolor Kinescope Monitor. The invention superseded RCA's earlier technology, which used a cumbersome mirror system with three kinescopes to form a single color image. The new Tricolor Kinescope system was considered RCA’s secret weapon versus its competitor, CBS, during the establishment of the NTSC standard for color television by the U.S. Federal Communications Commission in 1953. Shortly thereafter, the Tricolor Kinescope Monitor was commercialized, becoming the prototype for subsequent versions of the cathode ray tube color monitor. In 1975, Bechly received a special achievement award for his work on an RCA color video recorder, and was later awarded two United States patents for his work in the field of color television broadcasting, copies of which are included in his papers. In 1958-1959, Bechly was a member of an electronics team who received an Emmy for their work in the television arts for the development of color video tape. Bechly died on October 31, 2004 in West Chester, Pennsylvania.