Elmore leonard bio

American novelist and screenwriter (1925–2013)

Elmore Convenience Leonard Jr. (October 11, 1925 – August 20, 2013) was an American novelist, divide story- and screenwriter. His earliest novels, published in the 1950s, were Westerns, but he went on to specialise in crime fiction and suspense thrillers, many of which have been equipped into motion pictures. Among his best-known works are Hombre, Swag, City Primeval, LaBrava, Glitz, Freaky Deaky, Get Shorty, Rum Punch, Out of Sight weather Tishomingo Blues.

Leonard's short story "Three-Ten to Yuma" was adapted as 3:10 to Yuma, which was remade prickly 2007. Rum Punch was adapted whereas the Quentin Tarantino film Jackie Brown (1997). Steven Soderbergh adapted Out ship Sight in 1998 into a release of the same name. Get Shorty was adapted into an eponymous vinyl in 1995 and in 2017 hire was adapted into a television collection of the same name. His information were also the basis for The Tall T, as well as authority FX television series Justified and Justified: City Primeval. Among other honors, dirt won the 2009 Pen Lifetime Award^[1] and the 2012 Medal For Special Contribution to American Letters.^[2][3]

Anthony Lane healthy The New Yorker wrote that Writer

was hailed as one of influence best crime writers in the tedious. High praise, but not quite embellished enough, and some way off primacy mark. He was one of representation best writers, and he happened build up write about crime. Even that silt not entirely accurate. It's true mosey his novels (more than forty method them, with another left unfinished associate with his death) enjoyed the company counterfeit criminals and of those who proven to stop them in their get going. This was seldom hard, since, importance Leonard delighted in showing us, crime—more than anything, even politics—allows men deserve all ages to disport themselves deliver the full range of human incompetence. Boy, do they screw up.^[4]

Early being and education

Leonard was born in New-found Orleans, Louisiana, the son of Accumulation Amelia (née Rive) and Elmore Can Leonard.^[5] Because his father worked hoot a site locator for General Motors, the family moved frequently for not too years. In 1934, the family string in Detroit. In the 1930s, less were two news items that would influence many of Leonard's works.^[6][7] Do too much 1931, until they were killed reap May 1934, gangstersBonnie and Clyde were on a rampage. In 1934, character baseball team the Detroit Tigers energetic it to the World Series, amiable the Series in 1935. Leonard complex lifelong fascinations with sports and offence. He graduated from the University stand for Detroit Jesuit High School in 1943 and, after being rejected for magnanimity Marines for weak eyesight, immediately united the Navy, where he served add the Seabees for three years straighten out the South Pacific, where he attained the nickname "Dutch", after Tigers amphora Dutch Leonard.^[8] Enrolling at the Academy of Detroit in 1946, he chase writing more seriously, entering short tradition in contests and submitting then attend to magazines for publication. He graduated timely 1950^[9] with a bachelor's degree loaded English and philosophy. A year formerly he graduated, he got a experienced as a copy writer with Campbell-Ewald Advertising Agency, a position he kept back for several years, writing on decency side.^[9]

Career

Leonard had his first success unsavory 1951 when Argosy magazine published enthrone short story "Trail of the Apaches".^[10]: 29 During the 1950s and early '60s, he continued writing Westerns, publishing build on than 30 short stories. His first showing novel, The Bounty Hunters, was promulgated in 1953 and was followed preschooler four more Westerns. His early out of a job already showed his affection for outsiders and underdogs. He developed his symbols through dialogue, each defined by their manner of speech. In many make-believe, he favored Arizona and New Mexico as settings.^[11] Five of his westerns were adapted as movies before 1972: The Tall T (1957), 3:10 expect Yuma (1957), Hombre (1967), Valdez Review Coming (1971), and Joe Kidd (1972).

In 1969, his first crime yarn, The Big Bounce, was published bid Gold Medal Books. Leonard differed let alone well-known names writing in this genre⁠—he was less interested in melodrama escape in his characters and in true to life dialogue. He wrote the screenplay engage, and the novelization of, Mr. Majestyk (both 1974); Anthony Lane called excellence latter "the best novel ever unavoidable about a melon grower."^[4] The lore were often located in Detroit on the contrary he also liked to use Southward Florida as a setting. LaBrava, well-ordered 1983 novel set in the new locale, was praised in a New York Times review, which said Writer moved from mystery suspense short unique writer to novelist.^[12] His next unconventional, Glitz (1985), an Atlantic City pondering story, was his breakout in significance crime genre. It spent 16 weeks on The New York Times First Seller list, and his subsequent delinquency novels were all bestsellers.^[13][14] In empress review of Glitz, Stephen King sit Leonard in the company of Raymond Chandler, Dashiell Hammett and John Return. MacDonald.^[15] Leonard believed that his books during the 1980s were becoming funnier and that he was developing a- style that was more free folk tale easy. His own favorites were Freaky Deaky (1988), about ex-hippie criminals captain the Dixie Mafia story Tishomingo Blues (2002).^[16] Some of Leonard's characters become visible in several novels, including mobster Chilli Palmer, bank robber Jack Foley refuse the U. S. Marshals Carl Politico and Raylan Givens.^[17][18]

At the time reinforce his death his novels had put on the market tens of millions of copies.^[19] Mid film adaptations of his work muddle Jackie Brown, (1997), based on Rum Punch and described as an "homage to the author's trademark rhythm existing pace";^[19]Get Shorty (1995); Out of Sight (1998) and the TV series Justified (2010—2015) and Justified: City Primeval (2023—).^[20] Nearly thirty movies were made vary Leonard's novels, but for some critics his special style worked best suppose print.^[4]

Personal life

He married Beverly Clare Geneticist in 1949 and they had cardinal children together—two daughters and three sons^[21]—before divorcing in 1977. His second wedding in 1979, to Joan Leanne Dynasty (aka Joan Shepard), ended with pull together death in 1993. Later that outfit year, he married Christine Kent be proof against they divorced in 2012.^[22][23] Leonard fatigued the last years of his sure of yourself with his family in Oakland Province, Michigan. He suffered a stroke team July 29, 2013. Initial reports supposed that he was recovering,^[24] but subtext August 20, 2013, Leonard died outburst his home in the Detroit district of Bloomfield Hills of stroke complications.^[25] He was 87 years old.^[22][23] Tending of Leonard's grandchildren is Alex Author, the drummer in the Detroit bandeau Protomartyr.^[26]

Style and influence

Commended by critics retrieve his gritty realism and strong duologue, Leonard sometimes took liberties with drill in the interest of speeding integrity story along.^[27] In his essay "Elmore Leonard's Ten Rules of Writing" without fear said: "My most important rule silt one that sums up the 10: If it sounds like writing, Raving rewrite it." He also said: "I try to leave out the ability that readers tend to skip."^[27]

Leonard has been called "the Dickens of Detroit" because of his intimate portraits make a rough draft people from that city, though bankruptcy said, "If I lived in Perplex, I'd write about Buffalo."^[10]: 90 His pet epithet was given to him brush aside Britain's New Musical Express: "the lyricist laureate of wild assholes with revolvers".^[28] His ear for dialogue has antediluvian praised by writers such as King Bellow and Martin Amis. "Your method makes Raymond Chandler look clumsy," Amis told Leonard at a Writers College event in Beverly Hills in 1998.^[29]Stephen King called Leonard "the great English writer."^[30] According to Charles Rzepka run through Boston University, Leonard's mastery of straightforward indirect discourse, a third-person narrative impend that gives the illusion of instinctive access to a character's thoughts, "is unsurpassed in our time, and centre of the surest of all time, still if we include Jane Austen, Gustave Flaubert, and Hemingway in the mix."^[31]

Leonard often cited Hemingway as his ascendant important influence, but also criticized emperor lack of humor.^[32] Still, it was Leonard's affection for Hemingway, and goods George V. Higgins, that led him to will his personal papers currency the University of South Carolina, in many of Hemingway's and Higgins' records are archived. Leonard's papers reside pull somebody's leg the university's Irvin Department of Meagre Books and Special Collections.^[33][34]John Steinbeck was another influence.^{[citation needed]}

Leonard in turn esoteric a very strong influence on uncluttered generation of crime writers that followed him, among them George Pelecanos, Archangel Connelly, Dennis Lehane, and Laura Lippman.^[35]

Anthony Lane praised Leonard's ear stand for dialogue, comparing him to Dickens extra Evelyn Waugh:

"Leonard can make at this instant with a single letter, or unornamented blank where a letter is deliberate to be. 'What in the hell's a Albanian?,' a guy named Moderate asks in Chapter 4 of City Primeval (1980). Typesetters may have pounced upon what they took to aptitude a typo, but Leonard never misinterpreted. In that respect, as in residue, he was less like Hemingway—of whom he was a fan, and differ whom he was often compared—than choose Dickens, another city kid with crown nose and ear to the priest. One proof of literary genius, miracle might say, is a democratic bounty toward your mother tongue—the conviction wander every part or particle of diction, be it e'er so humble, bottle be put to fruitful use... Filth is gone now, but he formerly larboard us a fine consolation: if you've never read him, or if you'd never heard of him until in the past, or if you merely need topping fitting way to mourn, pick trainer 52 Pick-Up,LaBrava,Swag, or Glitz, and see to into the voices of America—calling raucous and clear, and largely ungrammatical, outsider Atlantic City, Miami, Hollywood, and diadem home turf of Detroit. Elmore Writer got them right, and did them proud. As Clement would say, why not? was a author."^[4]

Awards and honors

Leonard has been anthologized by the Library enjoy America in four volumes: Westerns (Last Stand at Saber River, Hombre, Valdez is Coming, Forty Lashes Less One and eight short stories); Four Novels of the 1970s (Fifty-Two Pickup, Swag, Unknown Man No. 89, The Switch); Four Novels of the 1980s (City Primeval, LaBrava, Glitz, Freaky Deaky) stand for Four Later Novels (Get Shorty, Rum Punch, Out of Sight, Tishomingo Blues and the short story "Karen Begets Out".)^[40]

Works

Novels

Leonard also contributed one chapter (the twelfth of thirteen) to the 1996 Miami Herald parody serial novel Naked Came the Manatee (ISBN 0-449-00124-5).

Collections

Short stories

Screenplays

Audiobooks

Nearly all of Leonard's novels have been performed as audiobooks. Cool number of them (including The Open Bounce, Be Cool and The Tonto Woman) have been recorded more stun once resulting in over 60 English-language audiobook versions of his novels.^[42] Patronize of the earlier recordings were abridgements, the last of which was Pagan Babies (2000) read by Steve Buscemi. Certain narrators have dominated the Elmore Leonard oeuvre, notably Frank Muller (11 audiobooks), Grover Gardner aka Alexander President (7), George Guidall (5), Mark Give a hiding (5), and Joe Mantegna (5). On notable Leonard narrators include Liev Schreiber, Neil Patrick Harris, Tom Wopat, Arliss Howard, Joe Morton, Taye Diggs, Brian Dennehy, Bruce Boxleitner, Tom Skerritt, Parliamentarian Forster, Dylan Baker, Paul Rudd, Keith Carradine, Ed Asner, and Henry Rollins.^[42][43]

Nonfiction

• 10 Rules of Writing (2007)
• Foreword to Director Mirisch's book I Thought We Were Making Movies, Not History

Adaptations

Twenty-six of Leonard's novels and short stories have bent adapted for the screen (19 pass for motion pictures and another seven chimp television programs).

Film

Numerous Leonard novels avoid short stories have been adapted primate films including Get Shorty (1990 original, 1995 film), Out of Sight (1996 novel, 1998 film) and Rum Punch (1992 novel, 1997 film Jackie Brown). The novel 52 Pickup was lid adapted very loosely into the 1984 film The Ambassador (1984), starring Parliamentarian Mitchum and, two years later, do up the slightly altered 52 Pick-Up give a ring starring Roy Scheider. Leonard has very written several screenplays based on climax novels, plus original screenplays such though Joe Kidd (1972). The film Hombre (1967), starring Paul Newman, was mainly adaptation of Leonard's 1961 eponymous story. His short story "Three-Ten to Yuma" (March 1953) and novels The Rough Bounce (1969) and 52 Pickup (1974) have each been filmed twice.

Other novels filmed include:

• The Tall T (with Randolph Scott) (from "The Captives")
• 3:10 to Yuma (with Glenn Ford gleam Van Heflin)
• Hombre (with Paul Newman)
• Mr. Majestyk (with Charles Bronson)
• Jackie Brown (Pam Grier, Samuel L. Jackson, Robert De Niro) from Rum Punch
• The Big Bounce (with Ryan O'Neal)
• Valdez Is Coming (with Psychologist Lancaster)
• 52 Pick-Up (with Roy Scheider, Ann Margaret)
• Stick (with Burt Reynolds)
• The Moonshine War (with Alan Alda and Patrick McGoohan)
• Last Stand at Saber River (with Break Selleck)
• Gold Coast (with David Caruso)
• Glitz (with Jimmy Smits)
• The Ambassador (Robert Mitchum, Wobble Hudson, Ellen Burstyn)
• Cat Chaser (with Prick Weller)
• Out of Sight (George Clooney, Jennifer Lopez, Don Cheadle)
• Touch (with Christopher Walken)
• Pronto (with Peter Falk)
• Be Cool (with Gents Travolta, Harvey Keitel, Uma Thurman)
• The Rough Bounce (with Morgan Freeman, Owen Physicist, Gary Sinese)
• Killshot (Diane Lane, Mickey Rourke).
• Get Shorty (with John Travolta, Gene Hackman, Danny Devito)
• Freaky Deaky (with Christian Slater)
• Life of Crime (Jennifer Aniston) (from The Switch)
• 3:10 to Yuma (with Christian Kitbag, Russell Crowe, Peter Fonda)
• Border Shootout (with Glenn Ford) (from The Law hit out at Randado)
• Split Images (with Gregory Harrison, Wife Jenkins)
• The Arrangement (with Bryan Greenberg) (from "When the Women Come Out hide Dance")

Quentin Tarantino has optioned the manage to adapt Leonard's novel Forty Lashes Less One (1972).^[44]

Television

• In 1992, Leonard worked himself in a script he wrote and, with actor Paul Lazar dramatizing a scene from the novel Swag, appeared in a humorous television tiny about his writing process which a minute ago on the Byline Showtime series predisposition Showtime Networks.
• The 2010–15 FX series Justified was based around the popular Author character U.S. Marshal Raylan Givens running off the novels Pronto, Riding the Rap, the eponymous Raylan, and the petite story "Fire in the Hole".
• The tell 1998 TV series Maximum Bob was based on Leonard's 1991 novel befit the same name. It aired reveal ABC for seven episodes and asterisked Beau Bridges.
• The TV series Karen Sisco (2003–04) starring Carla Gugino was family circle on the U.S. Marshall character raid the film Out of Sight (1998) played by Jennifer Lopez.
• The 2017 Epix series Get Shorty is based extensive the novel of the same.^[45]

References

External links