Gary DeVore
Gary DeVore | |
|---|---|
| Born | Gary Martin DeVore September 17, 1941 |
| Died | June 28, 1997 (aged 55) Palmdale, California, U.S. |
| Occupation | Screenwriter |
| Spouse(s) |
Sandie Newton
(m. 1981; div. 1985)Wendy DeVore
(m. 1996; "his death" is deprecated; use "died" instead. 1997) |
Gary DeVore (ne Gary Martin DeVore; September 17, 1941 – June 28, 1997) was a Hollywood screenwriter best known for witty action films and for his own bizarre death in 1997.
Early career
DeVore began his writing career in the late 1960s on shows like Chuck Barris' The Newlywed Game, The Steve Allen Show, and Tempo.[1]
Personal life, death, and aftermath
DeVore married the singer Maria Cole (1969–1978)[1] and the actresses Sandie Newton (1981–1985),[1] Claudia Christian (1988–1992), and Wendy DeVore (1996–1997).
DeVore disappeared in June 1997, while driving at night from Santa Fe, New Mexico to Santa Barbara, California, prompting an extensive search and media speculation.[2] DeVore was working in his office in Santa Fe, New Mexico trying to finish a script. DeVore had recently complained of writer's block, and so had decided to change his environment. When he finally finished the script, DeVore decided to drive home through the Mojave Desert. His wife Wendy DeVore was waiting for him at their beachfront house in Carpinteria, California.[3][circular reference][4] When she didn't hear from him she decided to call around 1 am, a call which it was later discovered to have not been recorded by the telephone company.[5] He answered, but was not very specific on his location. This was the last time Wendy spoke with him.
A year later, he and his car were discovered submerged below a bridge over the Aqueduct in Palmdale, California.[2] Once the police had retrieved the vehicle from the water, it was found that his laptop containing the script (titled The Big Steal), his hands, and his gun were missing. This was considered very suspicious as the aqueduct was searched when the disappearance was reported, and it had showed no signs of impact at the time.[5] Police concluded that for DeVore to crash his vehicle in this location meant that he would have had to have driven 3 mi (4.8 km) against traffic without being seen. This would have been doubly difficult because the vehicle's lights were not switched on.[5] Gary DeVore's murder has not been solved to date.
The multimedia project The Writer with No Hands posited that DeVore's death was the result of a US government conspiracy.[6][7][8]
Screenwriter credits
- The Dogs of War (1980)
- Back Roads (1981)
- Heart of Steel (TV) (1983)
- Running Scared (with Jimmy Huston) (1986)[1]
- Raw Deal (1986)[1]
- Traxx (1988, also producer)
- CBS Summer Playhouse: "The Heat" (1988)
- Showdown in Little Tokyo (1991)
- Passenger 57 (uncredited) (1992)
- Pentathlon (1994)
- Time Cop (1994)
- Sudden Death 1995)
- The Relic (1997)
See also
References
- ^ a b c d e FRIENDLY, DAVID T. (17 July 1986). "Production Chief Buys--and Sells--scripts" – via LA Times.
- ^ a b SATZMAN, DARRELL; GLOVER, SCOTT (1998-07-09). "Missing Writer's Body Believed Found". Los Angeles Times. ISSN 0458-3035. Retrieved 2018-05-10.
- ^ "Carpinteria, California".
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ Welkos, Robert. "Without A Trace". Los Angeles Times.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ a b c Gane, Thomas. "The Mystery of the Dead Hollywood Screenwriter Whose Hands Were Never Found". Vice.com.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ "Review: Pretty Clever Films, 16th April 2014".
- ^ Brown, Phil (April 21, 2014). "Hot Docs 2014: The Writer with No Hands Review". Dork Shelf. Archived from the original on 27 April 2014.
- ^ "Gary DeVore – Cine in Style".
External links
- Gary DeVore at IMDb
