Charles Samuels

Journalist, author and novelist Charles Samuels, a U.S. writer best known for his biographies of celebrities, was born September 15, 1902, in Brooklyn, New York, and died April 27, 1982 in Cuernavaca, Morelos, Mexico. He penned as-told-to autobiographies for Buster Keaton, "My Wonderful World of Slapstick." and Ethel Waters "His Eye is on the Sparrow," which was a best seller. Among his other books were "Magnificent Rube: The Life and Gaudy Times of Tex Rickard," and "The King: A Biography of Clark Gable."

His book with Boris Morros, “My Ten Years as a Counterspy” was made into the 1960 film, "Man on a String," starring Ernest Borgnine. The title of another, "The Girl in the Red Velvet Swing," about Evelyn Nesbit, was used in the 1955 movie. He was the recipient of the Edgar Allan Poe award (now called the Edgar Award) in 1956 with "Night Fell on Georgia" (written with his wife Louise Samuels).

Samuels, who wrote hundreds of magazine and newspaper articles, also worked on the newspaper columns of Ben Hecht and Billy Rose.

He lived mostly in New York City and its suburbs and retired in Mexico.

WRITINGS BY THE AUTHOR:

   * The Frantic Young Man (novel), Coward, 1929.
   * A Rather Simple Fellow (novel), Coward, 1931.
   * The Girl in the Red Velvet Swing, Gold Medal, 1953.
   * (With wife, Louise Samuels) The Girl in the House of Hate, Gold Medal, 1953.
   * Death Was the Bridegroom, Gold Medal, 1953.
   * (With L. Samuels) Night Fell on Georgia, Dell, 1956.
   * The Magnificent Rube: The Life and Gaudy Times of Tex Rickard (biography), McGraw, 1957.
   * The King: The Biography of Clark Gable, Coward, 1962 (published in England as The King of Hollywood: The Story of Clark Gable, Allen & Unwin, 1962).
   * (Author of text) Jan Yoors, Only in New York (photographs), Simon & Schuster, 1965.
   * (With L. Samuels) Once upon a Stage: The Merry World of Vaudeville, Dodd, 1974. 

As-told-to biographies:

   * (With Ethel Waters) His Eye Is on the Sparrow (Book-of-the-Month Club selection), Doubleday, 1951, published with a new preface by Donald Bogle, Da Capo Press( New York City), 1992.
   * (With Norah Berg) Lady on the Beach, Prentice-Hall, 1952.
   * (With William R. and Florence K. Simpson) Hockshop, Random House, 1954.
   * (With Boris Morros) My Ten Years as a Counterspy, Viking, 1959.
   * (With Buster Keaton) My Wonderful World of Slapstick, Doubleday, 1960, published with a new introduction by Dwight Macdonald and a new filmography compiled by Raymond Rohauer, Da Capo Press, 1982.
   * (With Gerard Luisi) How to Catch 5,000 Thieves, Macmillan, 1962.
   * The King: A Biography of Clark Gable, Coward-McCann (New York, NY), 1962. 

Samuels never graduated from high school or lost his Brooklyn accent. "I never wanted to be anything but a writer, have talent for nothing else except fast, furious, and occasionally witty conversation. I wouldn't trade my memories for anyone's," he told an interviewer.

The New York Times obituary: [1]

http://uk.imdb.com/name/nm0760453/filmotype