Donald E. Westlake

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

  (Redirected from Richard Stark)
Jump to: navigation, search
Question book-new.svg
 This article needs additional citations for verification.
Please help improve this article by adding reliable references. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (October 2008)
Donald Edwin Westlake

Born July 12, 1933(1933-07-12)
Brooklyn, New York
Died December 31, 2008 (aged 75)
Mexico
Pen name John B. Allan, Judson Jack Carmichael, Curt Clark, Timothy J. Culver, J. Morgan Cunningham, Richard Stark, Edwin West, among others
Occupation novelist
Nationality U.S.
Genres crime fiction
Notable work(s) The Hunter
One of Westlake's earliest novels, reissued by Hard Case Crime

Donald Edwin Westlake (July 12, 1933 – December 31, 2008) was an American writer, with over a hundred novels and non-fiction books to his credit. He specialized in crime fiction, especially comic capers with an occasional foray into science fiction. He was a three-time Edgar Award winner, one of only two writers (the other is Joe Gores) to win Edgars in three different categories (1968, Best Novel, God Save the Mark; 1990, Best Short Story, "Too Many Crooks"; 1991, Best Motion Picture Screenplay, The Grifters). In 1993, the Mystery Writers of America named Westlake a Grand Master, the highest honor bestowed by the society.

Contents

[edit] Personal life

Westlake was born in Brooklyn, New York, and attended Champlain College and Harpur College in Binghamton, New York. He spent two years in the United States Air Force. He was married to Abigail Westlake (also known as Abby Adams Westlake and Abby Adams), a writer of nonfiction (her two published books are An Uncommon Scold and The Gardener's Gripe Book). The couple lived in upstate New York. Abby Westlake is a well-regarded gardener, and the Westlake garden has frequently been opened for public viewing in the summer.[1]

Westlake died of a heart attack on December 31, 2008 while on the way to a New Year's Eve dinner, while he and his wife were on vacation in Mexico.[2]

[edit] Pseudonyms

In addition to writing consistently under his own name, Westlake published under several pseudonyms[3]. In the order they debuted:

  • Richard Stark: Westlake's best-known continuing pseudonym was that of Richard Stark. Stark debuted in 1959, with a story in Mystery Digest[4]. Three other Stark short stories followed through 1961, including "The Curious Facts Preceding My Execution"[4], later the title story in Westlake's first short-story collection. Then, from 1962-1974, 20 novels about the relentless and remorseless professional thief Parker and his accomplices appeared and were credited to Richard Stark. "Stark" was then inactive until 1997, when Westlake once again began writing and publishing Parker novels under Stark's name.
  • Alan Marshall (or Alan Marsh): Perhaps as many as 28 paperback soft-porn titles from 1959-64; titles include All My Lovers, Man Hungry, All About Annette, Sally, Virgin's Summer, Call Me Sinner, Off Limits, and three featuring the character of Phil Crawford: Apprentice Virgin, All the Girls Were Willing, and Sin Prowl[5]. Westlake was not the only author to work under Marshall's name, claiming that: "The publishers would either pay more for the names they already knew or would only buy from (those) names…so it became common practice for several of us to loan our names to friends…. Before…the end of 1961…six other people, friends of mine, published books as Alan Marshall, with my permission but without the publishers' knowledge." Two novels published in 1960 were co-authored by Westlake and Lawrence Block (who used the pen-name "Sheldon Lord") and were credited to "Sheldon Lord and Alan Marshall": A Girl Called Honey, dedicated to Westlake and Block, and So Willing, dedicated to "Nedra and Loretta," who were (at that time) Westlake and Block's wives.[5]
  • James Blue: One-shot pseudonym, used as a third name circa 1959 when both Westlake and Stark already had stories in a magazine issue. In actuality, the name of Westlake's cat.[6]
  • Ben Christopher: One-shot pseudonym for a 1960 story in 77 Sunset Strip magazine.[4]
  • Edwin West: Brother and Sister, Campus Doll, Young and Innocent, all 1961; Strange Affair, 1962[3], one 1966 short story[4].
  • John B. Allan: Elizabeth Taylor: A Fascinating Story of America's Most Talented Actress and the World's Most Beautiful Woman, 1961, biography.[3]
  • Curt Clark: Debuted in 1964 with the short story "Nackles". Novel: Anarchaos, 1967, science fiction.[3]
  • Tucker Coe: 5 mystery novels featuring the character of Mitch Tobin: Kinds of Love, Kinds of Death, 1966; Murder Among Children, 1967; Wax Apple and A Jade in Aries, both 1970; Don't Lie to Me, 1972.[3]
  • P.N. Castor: Pseudonym used for one 1966 short story co-authored with Dave Foley[4].
  • Timothy J. Culver: Ex Officio, 1970, thriller.[3]
  • J. Morgan Cunningham: Comfort Station, 1971, humor. Cover features the blurb, "I wish I had written this book!" - Donald E. Westlake. [3]
  • Samuel Holt: 4 mystery novels featuring the character of Sam Holt, 1986-1989: One of Us is Wrong and I Know a Trick Worth Two of That, both 1986; What I Tell You Three Times is False, 1987; The Fourth Dimension is Death, 1989;[3]
  • Judson Jack Carmichael: The Scared Stiff, 2002, mystery; U.K. editions dropped the pseudonym.

[edit] Writing style

Donald Westlake was known for the great ingenuity of his plots and the audacity of his gimmicks. His writing and dialogue were lively. His main characters were fully rounded, believable, and clever. Westlake's most famous characters include the hard-boiled criminal Parker (appearing in fiction under the Richard Stark pseudonym) and Parker's comic flip-side John Dortmunder, the hard-luck criminal genius who originally began as Parker getting caught in a comic situation in the 1970 novel The Hot Rock.

Most of Donald Westlake's novels were set in New York City. In each of the Dortmunder novels, there is typically a detailed shortcut somewhere through the city. He wrote just one non-fiction book,[3] Under an English Heaven, regarding the unlikely 1967 Anguillan "revolution"

Westlake was an occasional contributor to science fiction fanzines such as Xero, and used Xero as a venue for a harsh announcement that he was leaving the science fiction field.[7]

[edit] Motion pictures

Several of Westlake's novels have been made into motion pictures, including Point Blank (based on The Hunter) in 1967 with Lee Marvin as Parker (changed to Walker), The Hot Rock in 1972 with Robert Redford, Cops and Robbers in 1973, The Outfit with Robert Duvall, also in 1973, Bank Shot in 1974 with George C. Scott, The Busy Body (with an "all-star cast") in 1967, Slayground in 1983, Why Me? in 1990, Payback in 1999, the second film made from The Hunter, with Mel Gibson, and What's the Worst That Could Happen? in 2001 with Martin Lawrence. Costa-Gavras adapted The Ax for the European screen in 2005, to great critical and public acclaim. Entitled Le Couperet, the film takes place in France and Belgium rather than the novel's setting of New England.

The novel Jimmy the Kid has been adapted three times: in Italy as Come ti rapisco il pupo in 1976, in the U.S. as Jimmy the Kid in 1983 starring Gary Coleman, and in Germany as Jimmy Der Kinder in 1999.

The novel Two Much! has been adapted twice: in France as Le Jumeau (The Twin) in 1984, and in the U.S. as Two Much in 1995 starring Antonio Banderas and Melanie Griffith.

Jean-Luc Godard's Made in USA in 1966 was an extremely loose adaptation of "The Jugger." Neither the film's producer nor Godard purchased the rights to the novel, so Westlake successfully sued to prevent the film's commercial distribution in the United States.

Westlake was himself a screenwriter. His script for the 1990 film The Grifters, adapted from the novel by Jim Thompson, was nominated for an Academy Award. (Westlake the screenwriter adapted Jim Thompson's work in a straightforward manner, but Westlake the humourist played on Thompson's name later that year in the Dortmunder novel Drowned Hopes by featuring a character named "Tom Jimson" who is a criminal psychopath.) Westlake also wrote the screenplay The Stepfather (from a story by Westlake, Brian Garfield and Carolyn Lefcourt), the film of which was sufficiently popular to receive two sequels and a remake, projects in which Westlake was not involved.

In 1987 Westlake wrote the teleplay Fatal Confession, a pilot for the TV series Father Dowling Mysteries based on the novels by Ralph McInerny.

Westlake also wrote a treatment for the James Bond film Tomorrow Never Dies, which was adapted later by several screenwriters. How much of Westlake's story ended up in the screenplay is unknown; he does not receive either a story or screenplay credit for the finished film, suggesting that little if any of his original work was used .[8]

[edit] John Dortmunder novels

  • The Hot Rock (1970)
  • Bank Shot (1972)
  • Jimmy the Kid (1974)
  • Nobody's Perfect (1977)
  • Why Me? (1983)
  • Good Behavior (1985)
  • Drowned Hopes (1990)
  • Don't Ask (1993)
  • What's the Worst That Could Happen? (1996)
  • Bad News (2001)
  • The Road to Ruin (2004)
  • Watch Your Back! (2005)
  • What's So Funny? (2007)
  • Get Real (2009)

[edit] Shorter Works

  • Thieves' Dozen (2004), a collection of ten Dortmunder short stories and one related story.
  • "Walking Around Money" (2005), a novella in the anthology Transgressions, edited by Ed McBain.

[edit] Parker and/or Grofield novels

Westlake writing under Richard Stark pseudonym

[edit] References

  1. ^ http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0922799/bio
  2. ^ New York Times Obituary Accessed January 1, 2009
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i http://www.donaldwestlake.com/wks_biblio.html
  4. ^ a b c d e http://thrillingdetective.com/trivia/westlake.html
  5. ^ a b http://efanzines.com/EK/eI13/index.htm#westlake
  6. ^ http://www.chronogram.com/issue/2006/04/arts/books/
  7. ^ Westlake, Donald. "Don't Call Us, We'll Call You" and responses by Frederick Pohl, Donald Wollheim, Harry Warner, Jr., Steve Stiles and others, reprinted in: Lupoff, Richard A., & Pat Lupoff. The Best of Xero. Tachyon Publications, 2004. pp. 120 et seq.
  8. ^ http://www.mi6.co.uk/sections/movies/tnd_production.php3?t=tnd&s=tnd

[edit] External links

Search Wikiquote Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Donald E. Westlake
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donald_E._Westlake"