::WRITERS OF TWISTY THRILLERS::
Writers who specialize in thrillers that have a bevy of twists and turns within their plots.
[listed in no particular order]
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A former boxer, paratrooper and general all-around angry young man, Rod Serling was one of the radical new voices that made the "Golden Age" of television. Long before The Twilight Zone (1959), he was known for writing such high-quality scripts as "Patterns" and "Requiem for a Heavyweight," both later turned into films (Patterns (1956) and Requiem for a Heavyweight (1962)). The Twilight Zone (1959) featured forays into controversial grounds like racism, Cold War paranoia and the horrors of war. His maverick attitude eventually drove him from regular network television.Creator/Writer of The Twilight Zone but also the feature films Planet of the Apes and Seven Days of May.- Writer
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Born in New Jersey and raised in Brooklyn, Richard Burton Matheson first became a published author while still a child, when his stories and poems ran in the "Brooklyn Eagle". A lifelong reader of fantasy tales, he made his professional writing bow in 1950 when his short story "Born of Man and Woman"? appeared in "The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction"; Matheson turned out a number of highly regarded horror, fantasy and mystery stories throughout that decade. He broke into films in 1956, adapting his novel "The Shrinking Man" for the big-screen The Incredible Shrinking Man (1957).Wrote many episodes of The Twilight Zone with Serling & co. but also wrote a considerable number of feature-length thrillers - many for TV - such as Duel, Dying Room Only, Dead of Night, and Trilogy of Terror.- Writer
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Charles Beaumont was the pseudonym for Charles Leroy Nutt, born on Chicago's North Side on January 2 1929. He also occasionally wrote under the names Charles McNutt and E.T. Beaumont (the latter apparently based on the name of a Texas town). Tragically short-lived, Beaumont was a dynamic and imaginative author and screenwriter of macabre, cautionary tales -- frequently tinged with black humour -- blending the genres of science-fiction, fantasy and horror. With the sole exception of Rod Serling, he was the single most important creative force in the early years of The Twilight Zone (1959), responsible for many classic episodes, including "Perchance to Dream" (adapted from his original story, first published in 'Playboy' magazine in November 1958), "Printer's Devil" (from "The Devil, You Say?", his very first story, published in 'Amazing Stories', January 1951), "The Jungle" ('If' magazine, December 1954) and "In His Image" (one of the stories from his collection "Yonder", published in 1958). Much of Beaumont's early work was published in an anthology entitled "The Hunger and Other Stories", by Putnam in 1957. He also scripted or co-scripted several movies, including Roger Corman's The Premature Burial (1962), The Haunted Palace (1963) (Beaumont only took the title from the poem by Edgar Allan Poe, adapting the actual story from H.P. Lovecraft's novel "The Case of Charles Dexter Ward") and The Masque of the Red Death (1964). He also wrote an earlier script for Queen of Outer Space (1958) as a spoof, later ruefully commenting, that neither the director nor the cast seemed to have noticed that fact.
Beaumont had an extremely troubled childhood, which he later referred to as "one big Charles Addams cartoon". His mentally unstable mother at one time dressed him in girl's clothes and killed one of his pets as a form of punishment (this later inspired his short story "Miss Gentillbelle"). He was eventually farmed out to the care of five widowed aunts, who operated a boarding house and regaled young Charles with nightly tales, detailing the peculiar demise of each of their husbands. Somehow, perhaps unsurprisingly, young Charles developed his macabre sense of humour.
He first became interested in science fiction in his teens. He found school entirely boring, dropping out in the tenth grade. Then came a brief stint in the U.S. Army, but he was discharged after just three months for medical reasons (back problems). With little success, he tried his hand at acting, then sold illustrations to pulp magazines, worked as a railroad clerk in Mobile, Alabama; as an animator at MGM, even as a dishwasher. By the time he was twenty, he wrote prolifically, but remained unable to sell any of his first seventy-two stories, until the science-fiction magazine 'Amazing Stories' showed interest in "The Devil, You Say?", which was eventually published in early 1951. By the end of the decade, he had successfully segued into writing for films and television.
In 1964, at the height of his creative abilities, Beaumont was struck down by a savage illness (a combination of Pick's disease and early-onset Alzheimer's) which sadly claimed his life three years later at the age of thirty-eight.Another cracker-jack writer for The Twilight Zone, but also having written such feature films as Night of the Eagle (with Matheson), Premature Burial, and Brain Dead (post-mortem).- Writer
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Ray Bradbury was an American science fiction writer whose works were translated in more than 40 languages and sold millions of copies around the world. Although he created a world of new technical and intellectual ideas, he never obtained a driver's license and had never driven an automobile.
He was born Ray Douglas Bradbury on August 22, 1920, in Waukegan, Illinois. He was the third son in the family. His father, Leonard Spaulding Bradbury, was a telephone lineman and technician. His mother, Esther Marie Bradbury (nee Moberg), was a Swedish immigrant. His grandfather and great-grandfather were newspaper publishers. In 1934, his family settled in Los Angeles, California. There, young Bradbury often roller-skated through Hollywood, trying to spot celebrities. He attended Los Angeles High School, where he was involved in the drama club and planned to become an actor. He graduated from high school in 1938 and had no more formal education. Instead, he learned from reading works of such writers as Lev Tolstoy and Fyodor Dostoevsky, among others.
From 1938-1942, he was selling newspapers on the streets of Los Angeles, spending days in the local library and nights at the typewriter. At that time, he published his stories in fanzines. In 1941, he became a paid writer when the pulp magazine Science Stories published his short story, titled "Pendulum", and he was a full-time writer by the end of 1942. His first book - "Dark Carnival" - was a collection of stories published in 1947. That same year, he married Marguerite McClure (1922-2003), whom he met at a bookstore a year earlier. Maggie, as she was affectionately called, was the only woman Bradbury ever dated. They had four daughters and, eventually, eight grandchildren.
Ray Bradbury shot to international fame after publication of "The Martian Chronicles" (1950), a collection of short stories partially based on ideas from ancient Greek and Roman mythology. Then he followed the anti-Utopian writers Yevgeni Zamyatin and Aldous Huxley in his best-known work, "Fahrenheit 451" (1953). The film adaptation (Fahrenheit 451 (1966)) by director François Truffaut, starring Julie Christie, received several nominations. However, Bradbury was not happy with the television adaptation (The Martian Chronicles (1980), starring Rock Hudson) of his story "The Martian Chronicles". His other novels and stories also have been adapted to films and television, as well as for radio, theatre and comic books. Bradbury had written episodes for Alfred Hitchcock's television series, as well as for many other television productions. His total literary output is close to 600 short stories, more than 30 books and numerous poems and plays. He was writing daily.
In 2004, Bradbury received a National Medal of Arts. He was given a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6644 Hollywood Boulevard. An asteroid was named in his honor, "9766 Bradbury", and the Apollo 15 astronauts named an impact crater on the moon "Dandelion Crater", after his novel, "Dandelion Wine". He also received the World Fantasy Award for Lifetime Achievement, the Grand Master Award from Science Fiction Writers of America, an Emmy Award for his work as a writer on "The Halloween Tree", and many other awards and honors. Ray Bradbury died on June 6, 2012, at the age of 91, in Los Angeles, California.Famous for his published short stories - many of which were adapted for film and television - he also wrote many episodes of Alfred Hitchcock Presents and The Twilight Zone as well as his creation of the underrated anthology series Ray Bradbury Theater.- Writer
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Dahl was born in Wales in 1916. He served as a fighter pilot in the Royal Air Force during World War II. He made a forced landing in the Libyan Desert and was severely injured. As a result, he spent five months in a Royal Navy hospital in Alexandria. Dahl is noted for how he relates suspenseful and sometimes horrific events in a simple tone.Famous for Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory but few know about his knack for dark, twisty thrillers with many a surprise in the end. He's written many episodes for Alfred Hitchcock Presents as well as creating the underrated anthology series Tales of the Unexpected.- Writer
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One of the driving, creative forces behind the legendary Hammer Studios, Jimmy Sangster was born on December 2, 1927, in Kinmel Bay, North Wales. He began in the film industry as a production assistant at age 16 during WWII. After this gig, he worked as a gofer and assistant projectionist for Norman's Film Services at London's Wardour Street. Subsequently, he became a film magazine loader and clapper boy at a small studio located on Abbey Road.
At this point, he was drafted by the R.A.F. and was posted to India. After his tour of duty came to an end, he was able to get himself a job as a 3rd assistant director for a low-budget film, that happened to be shooting near his parents' cottage. That film's producer was offered a job with Exclusive Studios, which was to become Hammer Studios. He brought Sangster along with him as an assistant producer.
Hammer Studios producer Anthony Hinds offered Sangster the assistant director job, which he performed for a while before Hinds and 'Michael Carreras' urged him to give screen-writing a go. His script for the science-fiction film X the Unknown (1956) proved to be the turning point in his career. His next project was The Curse of Frankenstein (1957), which he wanted to make his own instead of patterning it after the 1930's Universal picture; he was more interested in the role of the creator than that of the creature. Horror of Dracula (1958) (aka The Horror of Dracula)followed, which proved to be an even bigger hit for the studio. He then turned out subsequent scripts such as The Revenge of Frankenstein (1958) and The Mummy (1959) and would even write scripts for competing studios such as Blood of the Vampire (1958) and The Crawling Eye (1958) (aka The Trollenberg Terror).
By now, Sangster had tired of writing Gothic horrors and entered into a phase of his career where he concentrated on psychological thrillers which would be filmed in black & white. These included Scream of Fear (1961) and Paranoiac (1963).
Another short-lived phase of his career came when he was approached to re-write a script titled The Horror of Frankenstein (1970). Feeling that it was too much of a carbon copy of his own The Curse of Frankenstein (1957) and wanting to put a fresh spin on it, he injected his re-write with much sex and humor. His proviso for the re-write was that he get to direct for once, which Hammer allowed him to do. After "Horror of Frankenstein", he directed Lust for a Vampire (1971), filling in for frequent Hammer director Terence Fisher, after the latter had broken his leg. His final directorial effort was "Fear in the Night"; unfortunately, these three films would prove to be disappointments commercially and critically.
Around this time, Sangster moved to Hollywood where his screen-writing credits would include Whoever Slew Auntie Roo? (1972), The Legacy (1978) and Phobia (1980), as well as episodes of such television series as Banacek (1972), Cannon (1971) and Kolchak: The Night Stalker (1974) and some detective novels.
Sangster retired some time back, maintaining homes in both California and England. In 1997, his autobiography "Do You Want It Good or Tuesday?" was published. Sadly, the legendary writer passed away on August 19, 2011.
His many years in the business are indicative of the talent of a prolific and much-respected screenwriter, whose films continue to be enjoyed to this day.Wrote many psychological thriller films for the Hammer Film Productions such as Scream of Fear, Paranoiac, Maniac, Nightmare, Hysteria, and other overly twisty films.- Writer
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Brian Clemens left school at the age of 14. After national service with the Royal Army Ordnance Corps, he worked his way up from messenger boy to copywriter at an advertising agency, writing in his spare time. One of his scripts was accepted by the BBC in 1955. He joined a production company, literally writing scripts to order. With tight deadlines and plots often based on the availability of sets, props or location, he churned out scripts for B-films and TV series.
Clemens is best remembered for his work on British television in the 1960s and 1970s, especially on Danger Man (1960), The Avengers (1961) (for which he wrote many episodes, including the pilot in 1961), The Baron (1966), The Persuaders! (1971) and creating The Professionals (1977). He also wrote for the stage; his play "Strictly Murder" was performed by a cast including Brian Capron in 2017.
Clemens was awarded the OBE (Officer of the Order of the British Empire) in the 2010 Queen's Birthday Honours List for his services to Broadcasting and to Drama. According to his son Samuel, the last thing he did before he died was to watch an episode of The Avengers (1961) and his last words were: "I did quite a good job".Like Sangster, Clemens also often wrote thrillers for the Hammer Film Productions - such as the surprisingly tricky film Captain Kronos - but he also wrote the cracker-jack thrillers And Soon the Darkness and See No Evil for other studios, as well as his greatest contribution - the television series Thriller, an anthology show similar to Alfred Hitchcock Presents.- Writer
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Graduated in direction and screenwriting at Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia of Roma in 1957 and in Economy in 1967. He wrote more than one hundred movies of all kind and a dozen of novels. He signed some scripts and his SF novels as Julian Berry. Married in 1960 the actress Mara Maryl and he directed his wife in many movies.Writer of such incredibly convoluted "giallo" (or Italian murder mysteries) as The Strange Vice of Mrs. Wardh, The Case of the Scorpion's Tail, The Case of the Bloody Iris, Death Walks on High Heels, and - my personal favorite of his - Libido.- Writer
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Peter Stone was born on 27 February 1930 in Los Angeles, California, USA. He was a writer and actor, known for Charade (1963), The Taking of Pelham One Two Three (1974) and Father Goose (1964). He was married to Mary O'Hanley. He died on 26 April 2003 in Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA.Writer of the "best hitchcock film not directed by hitchcock" (Charade) as well as other such twisty gems like Mirage, The Taking of Pelham One Two Three, and One of My Wives is Missing (a personal favorite of mine).- Writer
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Anthony Shaffer was born on 15 May 1926 in Liverpool, England, UK. He was a writer, known for Sleuth (1972), Frenzy (1972) and The Wicker Man (1973). He was married to Diane Cilento and Carolyn Soley. He died on 6 November 2001 in London, England, UK.Best known for writing the quintessential stage thriller (Sleuth) and the "citizen kane of horror" (The Wicker Man), he has also written a Hitchcock movie (Frenzy), several Agatha Christie adaptations (Death on the Nile, Evil Under the Sun), as well as Absolution.- Writer
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Richard Levinson was born on 7 August 1934 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA. He was a writer and producer, known for Columbo (1971), Murder, She Wrote (1984) and Rehearsal for Murder (1982). He was married to Rosanna Huffman. He died on 12 March 1987 in Brentwood, Los Angeles, California, USA.Wrote with writing partner William Link. Though famous for creating such television shows as Columbo, Murder, She Wrote, and Ellery Queen, I will remember them most fondly for their twisty feature films - namely Murder by Natural Causes, Rehearsal for Murder, and Guilty Conscience.- Writer
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William Link was born on 15 December 1933 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA. He was a writer and producer, known for Columbo (1971), Murder, She Wrote (1984) and Rehearsal for Murder (1982). He was married to Margery Nelson. He died on 27 December 2020 in Los Angeles, California, USA.Writing partner with Richard Levinson. See above for comments and credits.- Lucille Fletcher was born on 28 March 1912 in Brooklyn, New York, USA. She was a writer, known for Sorry, Wrong Number (1948), Lights Out (1946) and The Twilight Zone (1959). She was married to Douglass Wallop and Bernard Herrmann. She died on 31 August 2000 in Langhorne, Pennsylvania, USA.She has adapted several of her own works onto the big screen - most notable Sorry, Wrong Number. However, The Hitch-hiker (adapted several times - including once for The Twilight Zone) and Night Watch are rather famous for their surprise endings.
- Prolific mystery writer Cornell Woolrich was born in New York City, but his parents separated when he was young and he spent much of his childhood in Latin America with his father. Then he was sent back to New York to live with his rich, domineering mother, Claire. He attended Columbia University where he wrote his first novel, a Jazz Age piece published in 1926 titled "Cover Charge". Another book, "Children of the Ritz", followed in 1927. Hollywood beckoned but his time there as an (uncredited) screenwriter proved to be unhappy. A disastrous marriage to a producer's daughter failed quickly and he headed back to New York -- and Claire. He found his niche writing suspense stories for magazines such as "Argosy", "Black Mask" and "Thrilling Mystery". Sales were made to Hollywood, his reputation grew, and his bank account increased. Some called him "the Poe of the 20th century". Then his mother sank into a lengthy illness and his output fell as he devoted more and more of his time to her care. By the time she died in 1957, he was "burned out". From then until his death in 1968, he lived a lonely life marked by alcoholism and poor health (he delayed visiting a doctor when his leg started bothering him; he eventually lost it to gangrene). When he died his funeral went unattended.
He bequeathed money to Columbia to set up a creative writing course which was not named after him but after who else?-Claire.Famous for his novels and short stories, many of Woolrich's tales have been adapted for the screen - both big and small. - Writer
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Author, playwright and composer Ira Levin decided on a career of a writer at the age of 15. Educated at the elite Horace Mann school, he went on to two years at Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa, before transferring to New York University, where he majored in philosophy and English. He earned his degree in 1950. In 1953 he was drafted into the army. Based in Queens, New York, he wrote and produced training films for Uncle Sam before moving into television, penning scripts for such anthology series as Lights Out (1946) and The United States Steel Hour (1953). He made a bright theatre debut at the age of 25 with an adaptation of Mac Hyman's "No Time for Sergeants" (1955). He went on to write several plays, including the longest-running Broadway mystery to date, "Deathtrap" (1978), and several popular novels, including "A Kiss Before Dying", and other plays including "Critics Choice" and "Interlock" and the Broadway stage score and libretto for "Drat the Cat!". Joining ASCAP in 1965, he wrote the popular gospel song "He Touched Me" with his chief musical collaborator Milton Schafer.Rosemary's Baby, Death Trap, The Boys From Brazil, and The Stepford Wives - all with a crazy twist or two!- Frederick Knott was born on 28 August 1916 in Hankow, China. He was a writer, known for Dial M for Murder (1954), Wait Until Dark (1967) and A Perfect Murder (1998). He was married to Ann Hillary. He died on 17 December 2002 in New York City, New York, USA.His plays Dial M For Murder and Wait Until Dark are thrilling, twisty works of suspense, and his efforts on The Honey Pot and Write Me A Murder can not be ignored.
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Robert Bloch was born on 5 April 1917 in Chicago, Illinois, USA. He was a writer, known for Psycho (1960), Psycho II (1983) and Psycho (1998). He was married to Eleanor Zalisko Alexander and Marion Holcombe. He died on 23 September 1994 in Los Angeles, California, USA.Famous for writing the novel Psycho on which the Hitchcock film is based, he also wrote for the television shows Thriller and Alfred Hitchcock Presents, as well as feature films for William Castle (such as Strait-Jacket) and Amicus Productions (such as Asylum).- Walter Braden "Jack" Finney was an American writer, mainly known for his contributions to the science-fiction genre. His most popular novels are "The Body Snatchers" (1955) and "Time and Again" (1970), although throughout his career he published nearly 50 novels that encompass the noir, thriller and comedy genres.
Finney's novel "The Body Snatchers" has since been adapted into film four times. In the 1950s Don Siegel directed the first adaptation, Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956) starring Kevin McCarthy. Abel Ferrara offered his version with Body Snatchers (1993), and more recently audiences have been invited to sample the Nicole Kidman and Daniel Craig adaptation The Invasion (2007).
None of the above films, however, have managed to surpass the terrifying Philip Kaufman adaptation Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978) starring Donald Sutherland. Kaufman conveys the fear and paranoia that is at the center of Finney's novel flawlessly. It is still regarded by many as one of the best re-makes in film history, and a lot of the credit goes to Finney's novel. Donald Sutherland, incidentally, would go on to star in the similarly themed The Puppet Masters (1994) based on the 1951 novel by Finney's friend and fellow author, Robert A. Heinlein.
Despite his prolific outpouring of fiction, Jack Finney will nevertheless be predominantly remembered for the pod people who invaded Planet Earth.Probably most famous for The Invasion of the Body Snatchers, he also wrote many time travel stories and crime tales. - Writer
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Sidney Gilliat, the English director, screenwriter, and producer, was born on February 15, 1908 in Edgely, Cheshire, England. He began his screen-writing career in the silent movie era, writing inter-titles, going uncredited for his contributions to Honeymoon Abroad (1928), Champagne (1928), and Week-End Wives (1929). He first entered into a working relationship with director Alfred Hitchcock on The Manxman (1929), for which he did uncredited research. Ten years later, he would help write the dialog for the director's Jamaica Inn (1939). He eventually became a credited screenwriter in the 1930s, with A Gentleman of Paris (1931).
He partnered with Frank Launder, whom he first worked with uncredited on The Greenwood Tree (1929), and together they wrote, directed and produced almost 40 movies between their first credited collaboration Facing the Music (1933) through The Great St. Trinian's Train Robbery (1966), which they also co-directed. For Hitchcock, they co-wrote the classic The Lady Vanishes (1938). They also wrote Night Train to Munich (1940) for Carol Reed. Their collaboration is most famous for generating the St. Trinian's films, most notably The Belles of St. Trinian's (1954), which was directed by Launder and featured a tour de force performance by Alastair Sim. Sim was also the star of their The Green Man (1956), for which they received second straight Best British Screenplay nomination from the British Academy of Film and Television Arts.
Sidney Gilliat died on May 31, 1994 in Wiltshire, England. He was 86 years old.Famous for writing the early Hitchcock films The Lady Vanishes and Jamaica Inn, he also wrote such notable twisty thrillers as Night Train to Munich, Seven Sinners, Rome Express, and - my personal favorite - Green for Danger. Often wrote with Frank Launder.- Writer
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Frank Launder, initially a civil servant and repertory actor, started as a scriptwriter in the late 1920s on such classics as The Lady Vanishes (1938) and Night Train to Munich (1940). He joined forces with Sidney Gilliat and together they wrote, directed and produced over 40 films. Frank Launder and Sidney Gilliat are well-known for their St. Trinian's films, among many others.Writing partner with Sidney Gilliat. See above for comments and credits.- Pierre Boileau was born on 28 April 1906 in Paris, France. He was a writer, known for Vertigo (1958), Diabolique (1955) and Eyes Without a Face (1960). He died on 16 January 1989 in Beaulieu-sur-Mer, Alpes-Maritimes, France.One half of the French suspense duo Boileau and Narcejac, writers of such twisty thrill rides as Vertigo, Diabolique, Spotlight on a Murderer, and Faces in the Dark.
- Thomas Narcejac was born on 3 July 1908 in Rochefort, Charente-Maritime, France. He was a writer, known for Vertigo (1958), Diabolique (1955) and Eyes Without a Face (1960). He died on 9 June 1998 in Nice, Alpes-Maritimes, France.The other half of the French suspense duo Boileau and Narcejac. See above for credits.
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Georges Simenon was a Belgian novelist, writing in the French language. He published nearly 500 different novels, and a large number of short stories. He became internationally famous for creating the French police detective Jules Maigret, as the protagonist in a celebrated series of mystery novels. Between 1931 and 1972, Simenon published 75 novels and 28 short stories about Maigret and his supporting cast. The Maigret stories have often been adapted into films, television series, and radio shows.
In 1903, Simenon was born in Liège, Belgium. His parents were the accountant Désiré Simenon and his wife Henriette Brüll. His father worked as an accountant for an insurance company. They were members of the wider Simenon family, a line of peasants from Limburg whose history had been recorded since the 1580s. Simenon's maternal ancestry was primarily German and Dutch. His mother was reputedly a distant descendant of the famed robber Gabriel Brühl (died in 1743). Simenon would later use the family name "Brühl" as one of his pen names.
In 1905, the Simenon family moved to the Outremeuse neighborhood of Liège, where Simenon would spend most of his childhood. In 1911, they moved to a larger house in the same neighborhood. The family started taking in lodgers to supplement their income. The young Simenon regularly interacted with these lodgers, who were apprentices and students of various nationalities. These interactions gave him his first taste of cosmopolitanism.
In September 1914, Simenon started attending the Collège Saint-Louis, a Jesuit high school. He dropped out of high school in June 1918, deciding against taking his year-end exams. He supported himself through a series of odd-jobs. In January 1919, the adolescent Simenon was hired as a journalist by the newspaper "Gazette de Liège". His assignments consistent of "human interest" stories, which were thought to be of trivial importance. Simenon grew interested in the seamier side of life in Liège, and started to frequent bars and cheap hotels in search of information. He also grew interested in police investigations, and attended lectures on police technique by the famed criminologist Edmond Locard (1877-1966).
Simenon wrote his first novel in June 1919, but it was not published in book form until 1921. During the early 1920s, Simenon started hanging out with members of "La Caque", a group of Bohemian artists. He was introduced by them to Régine "Tigy" Renchon, who became his girlfriend. In 1922, Simenon's father died. Simenon took the decision to move with Tigy to Paris, where he got acquainted with ordinary working-class Parisians. The city's bistros, cheap hotels, bars and restaurants would later become settings for his novels.
In 1928, Simenon took an extended sea voyage for a journalistic assignment. He discovered that he liked water travel. In 1929, he had a boat house constructed for himself and his wife, called the "Ostrogoth". They used it to travel through the French canal system. Joining them in their travels was their housekeeper Henriette "Boule" Liberge, who became Simenon's mistress. Their romantic relationship lasted for decades, unlike Simenon's previous short-lived affairs.
In 1930, Simenon wrote the first Maigret story during a boat trip in the Netherlands. It was published the following year. In 1932, Simenon's journalistic assignments caused him to travel across Africa, eastern Europe, Turkey, and the Soviet Union. In 1933, Simenon interviewed the exiled politician Leon Trotsky in Istanbul. Simenon took a trip around the world from 1934 to 1935. For much of the 1930s, Simenon was a permanent foreign resident in France.
During World War II, Simenon lived in Vendée, France. He maintained decent relationships with the German occupation authorities, and negotiated film rights of his books with German studios. Following the end of the war, Simenon was accused of being a German collaborator, but with little apparent evidence. In 1950, the French authorities temporarily forbid him to publish new works as punishment for his supposed collaboration, but the sentence was not enforced.
In 1945, Simenon left France with his wife for an extended stay in Quebec, Canada. He wrote three novels in the local city of Sainte-Marguerite-du-Lac-Masson. For the following decade, Simenon and his family moved constantly across Canada and the United States. He learned to speak English with relative ease, and so did his mistress Boule. In 1949, Simenon divorced Tigy, but continued living in close proximity with her, in accordance with the divorce agreement. In 1950, Simenon married his second wife Denyse Ouimet (a French-Canadian) in Reno, Nevada. She was 17 years younger than Simenon himself. Denyse was his former secretary, and they had been romantically involved since 1945.
In 1952, Simenon briefly returned to Belgium, as he was made a member of the "Académie Royale de Belgique" (Royal Academy of Belgium). He had not actually lived in Belgium since 1922, but he remained a Belgian citizen and had become the country's most famous writer. Simenon permanently left the United States in 1955. He initially settled back in France, but then decided to move to Switzerland. In 1963, he had a new house constructed for himself in Épalinges, Vaud.
In 1964, Simenon and his wife Denyse separated permanently. His housekeeper Teresa had become his new long-term mistress. In 1978, Simenon was shocked when his daughter Marie-Jo committed suicide at the age of 25. In 1984, Simenon underwent surgery for a brain tumor. He recovered well, but his health further deteriorated during the last years of his life. In September 1989, he died in his sleep while staying in Lausanne,. He was 86-years-old at the time of his death, and had not published any major work for several years.
Simenon's works have remained popular into the 21st century. According to the 2019 version of the Index Translationum by UNESCO, Simenon was the 17th most translated writer on a global scale. In the Index, Simenon outranked the likes of of Astrid Lindgren (18th) and Pope John Paul II (19th). He ranked just below Fyodor Dostoevsky (16th) and Mark Twain (15th).Writer of the Maigret detective novels and other tales of crime.- Writer
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Robert Thomas was born on 28 September 1927 in Gap, Hautes-Alpes, France. He was a writer and actor, known for 8 Women (2002), Mon curé chez les Thaïlandaises (1983) and La bonne soupe (1964). He died on 3 January 1989 in Paris, France.French writer who wrote the ingeniously twisty play Trap For A Single Man (adapted at least five times for film - probably more) as well as 8 Femmes and other tricky tales.- Producer
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Milton Subotsky, a major British filmmaker, joined with Max Rosenberg in 1962 to form Amicus Productions to produce low- to medium-budget horror and anthology films (they also formed Cinerama Releasing in 1966), usually shot in England and Scotland. These included The House That Dripped Blood (1971), Scream and Scream Again (1970), And Now the Screaming Starts! (1973), the Roy Ward Baker horror films Tales from the Crypt (1972) and The Vault of Horror (1973) and Oliver Stone's first feature film, Seizure (1974). Both Subotsky and Rosenberg got help from Samuel Z. Arkoff and James H. Nicholson in releasing the British films worldwide. After Cinerama Releasing folded and went out of business due to the lack of British investment in 1975, Rosenberg and Subotsky went their separate ways. Rosenberg rarely continued with filmmaking, but Subotsky kept his hand in American horror films, helping to bring a number of Stephen King's novels to the screen up. He died in 1991 of heart disease.Wrote many of Amicus' anthology horror films - The Vault of Horror, Tales from the Crypt, and Dr. Terror's House of Horrors - and the terrific Gothic chiller The City of the Dead.- Agatha was born as "Agatha Mary Clarissa Miller" in 1890 to Frederick Alvah Miller and Clara Boehmer. Agatha was of American and British descent, her father being American and her mother British. Her father was a relatively affluent stockbroker. Agatha received home education from early childhood to when she turned 12-years-old in 1902. Her parents taught her how to read, write, perform arithmetic, and play music. Her father died in 1901. Agatha was sent to a girl's school in Torquay, Devon, where she studied from 1902 to 1905. She continued her education in Paris, France from 1905 to 1910. She then returned to her surviving family in England.
As a young adult, Agatha aspired to be a writer and produced a number of unpublished short stories and novels. She submitted them to various publishers and literary magazines, but they were all rejected. Several of these unpublished works were later revised into more successful ones. While still in this point of her life, Agatha sought advise from professional writer Eden Phillpotts (1862-1960). Meanwhile she was searching for a suitable husband and in 1913 accepted a marriage proposal from military officer and pilot-in-training Archibald "Archie" Christie. They married in late 1914. Her married name became "Agatha Christie" and she used it for most of her literary works, including ones created decades following the end of her first marriage.
During World War I, Archie Christie was send to fight in the war and Agatha joined the Voluntary Aid Detachment, a British voluntary unit providing field nursing services. She performed unpaid work as a volunteer nurse from 1914 to 1916. Then she was promoted to "apothecaries' assistant" (dispenser), a position which earned her a small salary until the end of the war. She ended her service in September, 1918.
Agatha wrote "The Mysterious Affair at Styles", her debut novel ,in 1916, but was unable to find a publisher for it until 1920. The novel introduced her famous character Hercule Poirot and his supporting characters Inspector Japp and Arthur Hastings. The novel is set in World War I and is one of the few of her works which are connected to a specific time period.
Following the end of World War I and their retirement from military life, Agatha and Archie Christie moved to London and settled into civilian life. Their only child Rosalind Margaret Clarissa Christie (1919-2004) was born early in the marriage. Agatha's debut novel was first published in 1920 and turned out to be a hit. It was soon followed by the successful novels "The Secret Adversary" (1922) and "Murder on the Links" (1923) and various short stories. Agatha soon became a celebrated writer.
In 1926, Archie Christie announced to Agatha that he had a mistress and that he wanted a divorce. Agatha took it hard and mysteriously disappeared for a period of 10 days. After an extensive manhunt and much publicity, she was found living under a false name in Yorkshire. She had assumed the last name of Archie's mistress and claimed to have no memory of how she ended up there. The doctors who attended to her determined that she had amnesia. Despite various theories by multiple sources, these 10 days are the most mysterious chapter in Agatha's life.
Agatha and Archie divorced in 1928, though she kept the last name Christie. She gained sole custody of her daughter Rosalind. In 1930, Agatha married her second (and last) husband Max Mallowan, a professional archaeologist. They would remain married until her death in 1976.Christie often used places that she was familiar with as settings for her novels and short stories. Her various travels with Max introduced her to locations of the Middle East, and provided inspiration for a number of novels.
In 1934, Agatha and Max settled in Winterbrook, Oxfordshire, which served as their main residence until their respective deaths. During World War II, she served in the pharmacy at the University College Hospital, where she gained additional training about substances used for poisoning cases. She incorporated such knowledge for realistic details in her stories.
She became a Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1956 and a Dame Commander of the same order in 1971. Her husband was knighted in 1968. They are among the relatively few couples where both members have been honored for their work. Agatha continued writing until 1974, though her health problems affected her writing style. Her memory was problematic for several years and she had trouble remembering the details of her own work, even while she was writing it. Recent researches on her medical condition suggest that she was suffering from Alzheimer's disease or other dementia. She died of natural causes in early 1976.A master at the "Who-done-it?" No comments necessary. Her name says it all. - Writer
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Stephen Edwin King was born on September 21, 1947, at the Maine General Hospital in Portland. His parents were Nellie Ruth (Pillsbury), who worked as a caregiver at a mental institute, and Donald Edwin King, a merchant seaman. His father was born under the surname "Pollock," but used the last name "King," under which Stephen was born. He has an older brother, David. The Kings were a typical family until one night, when Donald said he was stepping out for cigarettes and was never heard from again. Ruth took over raising the family with help from relatives. They traveled throughout many states over several years, finally moving back to Durham, Maine, in 1958.
Stephen began his actual writing career in January of 1959, when David and Stephen decided to publish their own local newspaper named "Dave's Rag". David bought a mimeograph machine, and they put together a paper they sold for five cents an issue. Stephen attended Lisbon High School, in Lisbon, in 1962. Collaborating with his best friend Chris Chesley in 1963, they published a collection of 18 short stories called "People, Places, and Things--Volume I". King's stories included "Hotel at the End of the Road", "I've Got to Get Away!", "The Dimension Warp", "The Thing at the Bottom of the Well", "The Stranger", "I'm Falling", "The Cursed Expedition", and "The Other Side of the Fog." A year later, King's amateur press, Triad and Gaslight Books, published a two-part book titled "The Star Invaders".
King made his first actual published appearance in 1965 in the magazine Comics Review with his story "I Was a Teenage Grave Robber." The story ran about 6,000 words in length. In 1966 he graduated from high school and took a scholarship to attend the University of Maine. Looking back on his high school days, King recalled that "my high school career was totally undistinguished. I was not at the top of my class, nor at the bottom." Later that summer King began working on a novel called "Getting It On", about some kids who take over a classroom and try unsuccessfully to ward off the National Guard. During his first year at college, King completed his first full-length novel, "The Long Walk." He submitted the novel to Bennett Cerf/Random House only to have it rejected. King took the rejection badly and filed the book away.
He made his first small sale--$35--with the story "The Glass Floor". In June 1970 King graduated from the University of Maine with a Bachelor of Science degree in English and a certificate to teach high school. King's next idea came from the poem by Robert Browning, "Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came." He found bright colored green paper in the library and began work on "The Dark Tower" saga, but his chronic shortage of money meant that he was unable to further pursue the novel, and it, too, was filed away. King took a job at a filling station pumping gas for the princely sum of $1.25 an hour. Soon he began to earn money for his writings by submitting his short stories to men's magazines such as Cavalier.
On January 2, 1971, he married Tabitha King (born Tabitha Jane Spruce). In the fall of 1971 King took a teaching job at Hampden Academy, earning $6,400 a year. The Kings then moved to Hermon, a town west of Bangor. Stephen then began work on a short story about a teenage girl named Carietta White. After completing a few pages, he decided it was not a worthy story and crumpled the pages up and tossed them into the trash. Fortunately, Tabitha took the pages out and read them. She encouraged her husband to continue the story, which he did. In January 1973 he submitted "Carrie" to Doubleday. In March Doubleday bought the book. On May 12 the publisher sold the paperback rights for the novel to New American Library for $400,000. His contract called for his getting half of that sum, and he quit his teaching job to pursue writing full time. The rest, as they say, is history.
Since then King has had numerous short stories and novels published and movies made from his work. He has been called the "Master of Horror". His books have been translated into 33 different languages, published in over 35 different countries. There are over 300 million copies of his novels in publication. He continues to live in Bangor, Maine, with his wife, and writes out of his home.
In June 1999 King was severely injured in an accident, he was walking alongside a highway and was hit by a van, that left him in critical condition with injuries to his lung, broken ribs, a broken leg and a severely fractured hip. After three weeks of operations, he was released from the Central Maine Medical Center in Lewiston.No description needed given him infamy.- Writer
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Charlton "Charlie" Brooker (born 3 March 1971) is an English humourist, critic, author, screenwriter, producer, and television presenter. He is the creator and co-showrunner of the anthology series Black Mirror and has written for programmes such as Brass Eye, The 11 O'Clock Show, and Nathan Barley. He has presented a number of television shows, including Screenwipe, Gameswipe, Newswipe, Weekly Wipe, and 10 O'Clock Live. He also wrote the five-part horror drama Dead Set. He has written comment pieces for The Guardian and is one of four creative directors of the production company Zeppotron.
Charlton Brooker was born on 3 March 1971 in Reading, Berkshire. He grew up in a relaxed Quaker household in Brightwell-cum-Sotwell, Oxfordshire. He first worked as a writer and cartoonist for Oink!, a comic produced in the late 1980s. After attending Wallingford School, he attended the Polytechnic of Central London (which became the University of Westminster during his time there), studying for a BA in Media Studies. He claims that he did not graduate because his dissertation was written on video games, which was not an acceptable topic. Brooker listed his comedic influences as Monty Python, The Young Ones, Blackadder, Chris Morris, and Vic Reeves.
From 1999 to 2000, Brooker played hooded expert 'the Pundit' in the short-lived show Games Republic, hosted by Trevor and Simon on BSkyB.
In 2000, Brooker was one of the writers of the Channel 4 show The 11 O'Clock Show and a co-host (with Gia Milinovich) on BBC Knowledge's The Kit, a low-budget programme dedicated to gadgets and technology (1999-2000). In 2001, he was one of several writers on Channel 4's Brass Eye special on the subject of paedophilia.
In 2003, Brooker wrote an episode entitled "How to Watch Television" for Channel 4's The Art Show. The episode was presented in the style of a public information film and was partly animated.
Together with Brass Eye's Chris Morris, Brooker co-wrote the sitcom Nathan Barley, based on a character from one of TVGoHome's fictional programmes. The show was broadcast in 2005 and focused on the lives of a group of London media 'trendies'. The same year, he was also on the writing team of the Channel 4 sketch show Spoons, produced by Zeppotron.
In 2006, Brooker began writing and presenting the television series Charlie Brooker's Screenwipe on BBC Four, a TV review programme in a similar style to his Screen Burn columns in The Guardian. After an initial pilot series of three editions in April, the programme returned later in the year for a second run of four episodes plus Christmas and Review of the Year specials in December 2006. A third series followed in February 2007 with a fourth broadcast in September 2007, followed by a Review of the Year in December 2007. The fifth series started in November 2008 and was followed by another Review of the Year special. This series was also the first to be given a primetime repeat on terrestrial television (BBC Two), in January 2009.
In December 2011, three episodes of Brooker's Black Mirror, a science fiction anthology series, aired on Channel 4 to largely positive reviews. As well as creating the show, Brooker wrote the first episode and co-wrote the second with his wife Konnie Huq. He also wrote all three episodes of series two. In September 2015, Netflix commissioned a third season of 12 episodes, with Channel 4 losing the rights to the programme A trailer for the third season was released in October 2016. This was later split into two series of six episodes. The third season was released on Netflix worldwide on 21 October 2016. Brooker has solely written four of the episodes in series three, and has co-written the remaining two.
Beginning on 11 May 2010, Brooker presented a 5-part BBC Radio 4 series celebrating failure titled So Wrong It's Right, in which guests compete to pitch the worst possible ideas for new franchises and give the 'most wrong' answer to a question. Also featured are guests' recollections about their own personal life failures and their complaints about life in general in a round called 'This Putrid Modern Hell'. Guests have included David Mitchell, Lee Mack, Josie Long, Frank Skinner, Helen Zaltzman, Holly Walsh, Graham Linehan and Richard Herring. The second series began on 10 March 2011, and a third was broadcast in May 2012. In common with Screenwipe's use of a Grandaddy track (A.M. 180) from the album Under the Western Freeway as its theme tune, So Wrong It's Right uses another track from the same album, Summer Here Kids.Creator of the speculative anthology show Black Mirror which features tales of a sci-fi nature (usually) that critiques our society in a rather scathing - and horrifyingly accurate - manner. Some tales are more psychological drama than thriller, but a few episodes - live White Bear are full-bore thrillers with shocking twists. He also wrote the zombie satire Dead Set.- Additional Crew
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Author Harlan Ellison was born in Cleveland, Ohio, to Serita (Rosenthal) and Louis Laverne Ellison. He had an older sister, Beverly. Harlan was married five times. He lived in Sherman Oaks at "Ellison Wonderland". He had the same address and phone number for decades, was a teetotaler, and never used drugs.Like Bradbury, Ellison is more known for his published short stories. However, his work in television for such shows as The Outer Limits and the 1980s revival of The Twilight Zone demonstrated his knack for twisty plots on the (small) screen. Though I think it is over-rated, most consider his teleplay The Demon With The Glass Hand for the show The Outer Limits as being one of the best episodes of any show, period.- Stanley Ellin was born on 6 October 1916 in Brooklyn, New York, USA. He was a writer, known for House of Cards (1968), Suspense (1949) and The Big Night (1951). He was married to Jeanne Michael. He died on 31 July 1986 in Brooklyn, New York, USA.Terrific suspense writer who wrote many twisty tales of malice, many of which adapted for Alfred Hitchcock Presents - his most famous certainly being "Specialty of the House" which features an unforgettable revelation.
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George Clayton Johnson was born on 29 July 1929 in Cheyenne, Wyoming, USA. He was a writer and actor, known for Logan's Run (1976), Twilight Zone: The Movie (1983) and Ocean's Eleven (2001). He was married to Lola Brownstein. He died on 25 December 2015 in North Hills, California, USA.Johnson wrote a handful of episodes for The Twilight Zone (seven to be exact), the episode "I'll Take Care Of You" for Alfred Hitchcock Presents, the novel Logan's Run, and - probably most famously - Ocean's Eleven.- Writer
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Alec Coppel was born on 17 September 1907 in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. He was a writer, known for Vertigo (1958), The Captain's Paradise (1953) and Hell Below Zero (1954). He was married to Myra Coppel. He died on 22 January 1972 in London, England, UK.His plays - I Killed The Count and The Gazebo - are twisty tales that made it to the big screen. He also wrote the screenplay for Vertigo and other great thrillers.- Writer
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He was also the Creator and Executive Producer for the show "FALCON CREST'' 1981 thru 1988. The show starred Jane Wyman, Lorenzo Lamas, Robert Foxworth, and Susan Sullivan. The show was set in the Napa Valley of California. And centered on the power and intrigues of the families involved in the wine producing industry.Probably most famous for his family-oriented tales about country life - he created Charlotte's Web and The Waltons - but a little known fact is that he wrote many macabre stories for such anthology shows as The Twilight Zone, including the twisty episode "Stopover in a Quiet Town".- Writer
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Jerome Bixby was born on 11 January 1923 in Los Angeles County, California, USA. He was a writer and composer, known for The Man from Earth (2007), Star Trek (1966) and Fantastic Voyage (1966). He died on 28 April 1998 in San Bernardino, California, USA.Wrote the terrifying Twilight Zone episode It's a Good Life, as well as writing the subtle yet mind-boggling The Man from Earth and episodes for Star Trek that involve parallel universes.- Writer
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Mel Dinelli was born on 6 October 1912 in Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA. Mel was a writer and producer, known for The Window (1949), The Spiral Staircase (1946) and Beware, My Lovely (1952). Mel died on 28 November 1991 in Los Angeles, California, USA.Screenwriter of such classic thrillers like The Spiral Staircase, The Window, and Cause for Alarm!.- Born in Abergavenny, Monmouthshire, Wales in 1876, Ethel Lina White was one of the best known crime writers in Britain and the United States in the 1930s and 1940s. Her novel "The Wheel Spins" (1936), was the basis for the Alfred Hitchcock 1938 film The Lady Vanishes (1938). She died of ovarian cancer in London, England in 1944. In 2021, a blue plaque was to be erected on a building on Frogmore Street in Abergavenny, marking her birthplace.Wrote the story for The Lady Vanishes, the Gothic thriller Spiral Staircase, the haunting The Unseen, and finally the shocker An Unlocked Window which features a killer twist in its tail!
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London-born Angus MacPhail worked as a screenwriter for many years with producer Michael Balcon, but he wrote for many of Britain's most prestigious studios, such as Gainsborugh, Gaumont-British and Ealing. He is probably best known for his script for the classic British feature Dead of Night (1945), but also worked for Alfred Hitchcock, writing The Wrong Man (1956). MacPhail had a reputation as one of the British film industry's best collaborators and "script doctors", and in fact of his 23 scripts for Ealing Studios, he had sole credit on only one.Wrote a few Hitchcock thrillers (Spellbound, The Man Who Knew Too Much, and The Wrong Man), a segment for Dead of Night, and a handful of other British thrillers.- Additional Crew
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Creative horror screenwriter Joseph Stefano has been writing scripts since the early sixties. His first was The Black Orchid (1958). Less than a year later, he met his new friend, Alfred Hitchcock, to do the famous script for Psycho (1960). Stefano decided to drop the assignment for Hitchcock's The Birds (1963). Stefano later wrote a screenplay for Eye of the Cat (1969) and, by the early 1970s, he did numerous made for TV screenplays including Revenge! (1971), Home for the Holidays (1972) and Snowbeast (1977). When the 1980s came around, Stefano had no great intention to write any more scripts, and he was discouraged when Alfred Hitchcock died in 1980. It wasn't until the early 1990s that he wrote the script for the last sequel in the Psycho series (he dropped the other scripts for II and III) - Psycho IV: The Beginning (1990). Stefano has won many awards for his writing.Screenwriter of Hitchcock's classic shocker Psycho, many episodes of The Outer Limits (twelve of them), and a slew of TV thrillers in the 70s.- Attended University of Cincinnati, Hanover College, Indiana, but didn't obtain a degree. Worked in an office 1924-36, when he left to become writer, proofreader for the "Milwaukee Journal". Also started writing at this time, selling the first of over 300 short stories. Active in both science-fiction and mystery fields, his first SF short appeared in 1941. Won the "Edgar" award for Best First Mystery for "The Fabulous Clipjoint" (1947) from the Mystery Writers Of America. His SF was noted for its humor and wit, and a slickness not common in the '40s & '50s. A chronic respiratory condition forced him from the Midwest to Taos, New Mexico, and then to Tucson, Arizona. Also lived in Los Angeles, submitting scripts to Alfred Hitchcock's television shows.Wrote episodes for Alfred Hitchcock Presents but probably more famous for his novel The Screaming Mimi being the inspiration for Bird With The Crystal Plumage. He also wrote the amnesia mystery Crack-Up.
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Detroit-born Stirling Silliphant (born Sterling Dale Silliphant) was the son of a Canadian immigrant. The family moved to California when he was about two. He grew up in Glendale and graduated from the University of Southern California in 1938. During World War II he was an army lieutenant, and after his discharge in 1946 he got a job with the Walt Disney Studios in the Publicity Department. Shortly afterward he relocated to New York City to take a job as Publicity Director for 20th Century-Fox. In 1953 he moved back to Hollywood with the goal of becoming a writer/producer, and managed to obtain financing for his first film project, The Joe Louis Story (1953), a project he produced but did not write. A few more film jobs followed, and in 1955 he heard that Disney was coming up with a new TV series for children. He personally went to Walt Disney himself with some ideas on what kinds of stories should be featured on the show. Walt liked his ideas and hired him to write and produce a segment of the show, The Mickey Mouse Club (1955), that would showcase different types of careers that children might be interested in when they got older, to be called "What I Went to Be". THe first entry in the series, "Airline Pilot and Airline Hostess", was received well by adults and critics, but unfortunately kids weren't all that thrilled about it. There were to be further entries in the series, but Silliphant and Disney clashed over the lukewarm reception given the first entry, resulting in Disney's firing him and canceling the series altogether.
His dismissal from Disney didn't hurt Silliphant's career, however. He went on to write well-received episodes for many different series, including Alfred Hitchcock Presents (1955) and Perry Mason (1957), and helped to create the hit series Route 66 (1960) and Naked City (1958), writing most of the episodes for "Route 66" and acting as Executive Story Editor for "Naked City". He didn't restrict himself to television, however. He authored more than 50 books, wrote numerous screenplays (winning the Oscar for In the Heat of the Night (1967)) for directors such as Sam Peckinpah (The Killer Elite (1975)) and Clint Eastwood (The Enforcer (1976) and penned a string of well received made-for-television movies, such as Pearl (1978) and Fly Away Home (1981).
Silliphant married Tiana Du Long in 1974 and they had one child. In the 1980s he moved his family to Thailand, all the while continuing to write mini-series and made-for-TV films.
He died of prostate cancer in Bangkok, Thailand, in 1996.Wrote episodes for Alfred Hitchcock Presents and Suspicion as well as the horror classic Village Of The Damned and won an Oscar for In The Heat Of The Night.- Bernard C. Schoenfeld was born on 17 August 1907 in Brooklyn, New York, USA. He was a writer, known for Caged (1950), The Twilight Zone (1959) and Macao (1952). He died on 25 April 1990 in Guadalajara, Mexico.Wrote episodes for Alfred Hitchcock Presents and Twilight Zone as well as film noir mysteries such as The Phantom Lady and The Dark Corner.
- Francis M. Cockrell was born on 14 December 1906 in Warrensburg, Missouri, USA. He was a writer and director, known for Alfred Hitchcock Presents (1955), The Outer Limits (1963) and Professor Beware (1938). He was married to Marian Bradford Brown. He died on 13 April 1987 in Boones Mill, Virginia, USA.Wrote episodes for such anthology shows as Alfred Hitchcock Presents, Suspense, The Outer Limits, and One Step Beyond as well as episodes for Perry Mason and the film noir mystery Dark Waters.
- Bill S. Ballinger was born on 13 March 1912 in Oskaloosa, Iowa, USA. Bill S. was a writer, known for Alfred Hitchcock Presents (1955), The Outer Limits (1963) and The Strangler (1964). Bill S. died on 23 March 1980 in Tarzana, California, USA.Wrote episodes for Alfred Hitchcock Presents and Circle of Fear as well as the noir Pushover and The Strangler.
- Henry Slesar was born on 12 June 1927 in Brooklyn, New York, USA. He was a writer, known for The Edge of Night (1956), The Twilight Zone (1959) and Alfred Hitchcock Presents (1955). He died on 2 April 2002 in New York City, New York, USA.Wrote episodes for Alfred Hitchcock Presents, The Twilight Zone, Tales of the Unexpected , and the twisty (yet dull) TV movie Honeymoon with a Stranger.
- Jerry Sohl was born on 2 December 1913 in Los Angeles, California, USA. Jerry was a writer, known for Star Trek (1966), The Outer Limits (1963) and Die, Monster, Die! (1965). Jerry was married to Jean Gordon. Jerry died on 4 November 2002 in Thousand Oaks, California, USA.Wrote episodes of The Twilight Zone, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, and The Outer Limits... all with a twist!
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Gene Raser Kearney, a native of New York City, attended the Berkshire private high school in Massachusetts, then served in the Air Force in the Korean War. He attended Harvard and graduated with honors where he worked for the newspaper, The Harvard Crimson. He began his career working for radio and doing documentary and commercial film work before moving to California in the early 1960s. He worked primarily as a writer, but also as a director, producer, and actor in various television programs and motion pictures. His career was highlighted by a long association with Universal Studios where he wrote one of the first made-for-television movies, How I Spent My Summer Vacation, and several theatrical features. Kearney was also involved in the production of various television series including Kojak, Night Gallery, and Switch. Kearney died at the age of 49 of cancer in Los Angeles on November 4, 1979.Wrote episodes for The Night Gallery, but also wrote the twisty thriller Games and the conspiracy thriller How I Spent My Summer Vacation.- Nelson Bond was born on 23 November 1908 in Scranton, New Jersey, USA. He was a writer, known for Lights Out (1946), Tales of Tomorrow (1951) and Thriller (1960). He was married to Betty Folsom. He died on 4 November 2006 in Roanoke, Virginia, USA.A sadly forgotten short story writer who has written many tales of suspense. Some tales were adapted for classic shows like Thriller, Tales of Tomorrow, and Lights Out.
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Arch Oboler was born on 7 December 1909 in Chicago, Illinois, USA. He was a writer and director, known for Five (1951), The Twonky (1953) and One Plus One (1961). He was married to Eleanor Helfand. He died on 19 March 1987 in Westlake Village, California, USA.Prolific writer of the radio program Lights Out.- Writer
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Nigel Kneale was born on 18 April 1922 in Barrow-in-Furness, Lancashire, England, UK. He was a writer and actor, known for The Entertainer (1960), Look Back in Anger (1959) and Quatermass and the Pit (1967). He was married to Judith Kerr. He died on 29 October 2006 in London, England, UK.Creator of the horror anthology show Beasts as well as other shows of the macabre.- Writer
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William F. Nolan was born on 6 March 1928 in Kansas City, Missouri, USA. He was a writer and actor, known for Logan's Run (1976), Logan's Run and Darkroom (1981). He was married to Marilyn Kam Seal. He died on 15 July 2021 in Vancouver, Washington, USA.Wrote segments for the TV anthology films Trilogy of Terror and Trilogy of Terror II as well as episodes for Darkroom and the feature film Burnt Offerings.- Henry Kuttner was born on 7 April 1915 in Los Angeles, California, USA. He was a writer, known for The Twilight Zone (1959), The Last Mimzy (2007) and Tales of Tomorrow (1951). He was married to C.L. Moore. He died on 4 February 1958 in Santa Monica, California, USA.Wrote 100s of short stories in the 40s and 50s. Some were adapted to anthology shows and a few films.
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McDowell was born in Enterprise, Alabama. According to his biography in the 1985 edition of Toplin, McDowell lived in Medford, Massachusetts. He also maintained a residence in Hollywood with his sister Ann and adventurer-filmmaker Peter Lake. The biography described a typical day: McDowell "writes in the mornings and spends the rest of the day looking out of the window in hope that something interesting will happen" and "collects photographs of corpses". He specialized in collecting photographs of train-decapitation victims and plaques from baby caskets. McDowell's life partner of 30 years was the theatre historian and director Laurence Senelick. McDowell died in 1999 in Boston, Massachusetts from AIDS-related illness. His unfinished novel Candles Burning was "completed" by Tabitha King, wife of Stephen King, and published in 2006.Wrote the best episodes for Tales From The Darkside as well as writing episodes for the 80s revival for Alfred Hitchcock Presents, Amazing Stories, and Tales from the Crypt. However, he is probably most famous for writing Beetlejuice and A Nightmare Before Christmas.- Writer
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Everett De Roche was born on 12 July 1946 in the USA. He was a writer and actor, known for Harlequin (1980), Razorback (1984) and Patrick (1978). He was married to Chris De Roche. He died on 2 April 2014 in Melbourne, Australia.Aussie writer of a multitude of thrillers.- Writer
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Jorge Guerricaechevarría was born on 10 July 1965 in Avilés, Asturias, Spain. He is a writer and producer, known for Cell 211 (2009), The Oxford Murders (2008) and The Day of the Beast (1995).Prolific Spanish writer who has written films for Alex De La Iglesia, Pedro Almodovar, and more.- Rampo Edogawa was born on 21 October 1894 in Nabari-machi, Naga-gun, Mie Prefecture, Japan [now Nabari City, Mie Prefecture]. Rampo was a writer, known for Edogawa Rampo no bijo (1977), Shonen tanteidan: Teki wa genshisenkoutei (1959) and Shonen tanteidan: Kabutomushi no yoki (1957). Rampo died on 28 July 1965.Probably Japan's most well-known author of twisty thrillers... or rather, "twisted" thrillers, as most of his tales feature lurid content. As for films, his most famous would be Blind Beast and Horror of a Deformed Man.
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Seichô Matsumoto was born on 21 December 1909 in Kitakyushu, Japan. He was a writer and actor, known for The Castle of Sand (1974), The Demon (1978) and Kikenna onna (1959). He died on 4 August 1992 in Tokyo, Japan.Another Japanese writer of twisty thrillers who successfully collaborated with director Yoshitaro Nomura on such tricky films as Zero Focus and The Castle of Sand.- Writer
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Seishi Yokomizo was born on 25 May 1902 in Kobe, Japan. He was a writer and actor, known for Inugami-ke no nazo: Akuma wa odoru (1954), Mitsu-kubi-tou (1956) and Yokomizo Seishi shirîzu (1977). He died on 28 December 1981.Created the detective Kôsuke Kindaichi whose stories were adapted into such twisty murder mysteries as The Inugami Family and Village of Eight Gravestones.- Keigo Higashino was born on 4 February 1958 in Osaka, Japan. He is a writer, known for Jaane Jaan (2023), Shippû rondo (2016) and Laplace's Witch (2018).His Suspect X features brilliant plotting, The Lakeside Murder Case is solid Agatha Christie by way of Hitchcock storytelling, and his teen-centric pop thriller G@me may be a bit unfocused but is unpredictable nevertheless.
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Miyuki Miyabe was born on 23 December 1960 in Tokyo, Japan. She is a writer and actress, known for Bonkura (2014), Solomon's Perjury (2015) and Copycat Killer (2023).Key films - Helpless, The Reason, Brave Story- Writer
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Joe R Lansdale is a prolific genre fiction writer, who has published hundreds of novels, novellas, novelettes, short stories, chapbooks, comic books, graphic novels, and collections.
Joe is arguably most famous for his Bram Stoker Award-nominated novella, 'BubbaHo-Tep', which was later adapted to film. Bubba Ho-Tep (2002) is directed by Don Coscarelli and stars Bruce Campbell as an aged "Elvis Presley", not dead but living in an East Texas rest home. 'Ossie Davis' (Qv) plays JFK. Together, the two do battle against an ancient Egyptian Mummy, who likes to leave crude messages on the toilet walls and suck the souls of old folk.
Another of his short stories was adapted for television in 2006, again by Don Coscarelli as part of the Masters of Horror (2005) TV series, episode _Incident on and Off a Mountain Road (#1.1)_, which stars Angus Scrimm, the 'Tall Man' from Phantasm (1979), another Don Coscarelli movie.
In literature, Joe is probably most famous for the 'Hap and Leonard' crime series. Often dark, sometimes tongue-in-cheek, these novels see the white working class Hap and gay black Leonard fighting racism, abuse, and violence. They are a tough, wise-cracking duo from East Texas. Investigators with a difference. The books are original, fresh, and convey a subtle noir-ish quality. The series begins with 'Savage Season' (1990), and includes 'Mucho Mojo' (1994) originally published by Cemetery Dance Publications as a limited hardcover, 'Two Bear Mambo' (1995), , 'Bad Chili' (1997), 'Rumble Tumble' (1998), 'Captains Outrageous' (2001) and 'Devil Road' (2011).
Joe is further known for his 'Drive-In' series: 'The Drive-In: A B Movie with Blood and Popcorn' (1988), 'The Drive-In 2: Not Just One of Them Sequels' (1989), and 'The Drive-In: The Bus Tour' (2005). And then there is the wacky 'Ned the Seal' Trilogy: 'Zeppelins West' (2001), 'Flaming London' (2006), 'Flaming Zeppelins' (2010), and 'The Sky Done Ripped' (unreleased).
'Act of Love' (1980) was Joe's debut novel, and has since been linked with the splatterpunk movement of the 1980s that also includes Jack Ketchum, Richard Laymon, Edward Lee, John Shirley, and David J. Schow. It is a violent crime novel set in the Big City. Real serial killer and slasher stuff. He has written about twenty stand-alone novels since, including the zombie-horror-western 'Dead in the West' (1986), the fantasy-western 'The Magic Wagon' (1986), the gritty crime thriller 'Cold in July' (1989), 'The Boar' (1998) which has been likened to Mark Twain, the children's book 'Something Lumber This Way Comes' (1999) with a nod to the writer Ray Bradbury here, 'The Big Blow', 'Blood Dance' and 'The Bottoms' (2000), and the noir thriller 'Sunset and Sawdust' (2004).
In addition to his novels, Joe has written hundreds of short stories that are collected in over 20 books: 'By Bizarre Hands' (1989), 'Stories by Mama Lansdale's Youngest Boy' (1991), 'Writer of the Purple Rage' for Cemetery Dance (1994), 'High Cotton' (2000) and its sister book 'Bumper Crop' (2004), 'Mad Dog Summer and Other Stories' (2004), 'The King and Other Stories' (2005), 'Sanctified and Chicken-Fried' (2009). Other collections include 'Fistfull of Stories' (1996) for Cemetery Dance, 'For A Few Stories More' (2002), and 'The Good, The Bad, and the Indifferent' (1997).
Much of his body of work has been adapted for the Comic Book format, and Joe has also contributed to comic books, novelizations, and cartoons including _The New Batman Adventures_ (TV Series 1997-1999)_, _Superman (TV Series 1996-2000)_, 'Conan the Barbarian', 'The Fantastic Four', 'Jonah Hex', _DC Showase: Jonah Hex (Video 2010)_, 'The Spirit', 'Tales from the Crypt', and an adaptation of the classic Robert E. Howard short story 'Pigeons from Hell'. His 'Dead in the West' and the Bram Stoker Winner 'By Bizarre Hands' have been adapted into comic book format by Dark Horse, the 'Drive-In' series by Avatar.
Apart from writing, Joe has edited over one dozen anthologies including: 'Razored Saddles' (1989), 'Dark At Heart' (1991), 'The Horror Hall of Fame: the Stoker Winners' for Richard Chizmar at Cemetery Dance Publications (2004), and 'Lords of the Razor' and 'Retro-Pulp Tales' (2006). He is the recipient of numerous awards including but not limited to: '7' Bram Stoker Awards (so far), to include the touching and traumatic and brilliant 'Mad Dog Summer' (1999), '9' further Bram Stoker Nominations, a World Fantasy Award, a British Fantasy Award, an Edgar Award for Best Novel by the 'Mystery Writers of America' association, an American Mystery Award, a Horror Critics Award, and nominated for a Dashiell Hammett award for 'The Bottoms' in 2000.
2011 sees another movie with Don Coscarelli, the sequel Bubba Nosferatu: Curse of the She-Vampires, this time with Ron Perlman as "Elvis Presley".
Joe is also a martial-arts expert and instructor.His published short stories are clever tales of terror ala Twilight Zone. Film adaptations of his work haven't quite captured his ingenuity... so far!- Writer
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Screenwriter, novelist, playwright, non-fiction author. Born in Highland Park, Illinois, USA, began his career as a novelist in 1957. Started writing screenplays in 1965 with "Masquerade". A two-time Academy Award Winner, he is one of the most successful screenwriters and script doctors in Hollywood.Hollywood screenwriter icon whose work on Harper, No Way To Treat A Lady, The Stepford Wives, The Hot Rock, and Marathon Man - just to name a few - prove his thrillers are not so predictable.- Writer
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Three-time Oscar nominee Frank Darabont was born in a refugee camp in 1959 in Montbeliard, France, the son of Hungarian parents who had fled Budapest during the failed 1956 Hungarian revolution. Brought to America as an infant, he settled with his family in Los Angeles and attended Hollywood High School. His first job in movies was as a production assistant on the 1981 low-budget film, Hell Night (1981), starring Linda Blair. He spent the next six years working in the art department as a set dresser and in set construction while struggling to establish himself as a writer. His first produced writing credit (shared) was on the 1987 film, A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors (1987), directed by Chuck Russell. Darabont is one of only six filmmakers in history with the unique distinction of having his first two feature films receive nominations for the Best Picture Academy Award: 1994's The Shawshank Redemption (1994) (with a total of seven nominations) and 1999's The Green Mile (1999) (four nominations). Darabont himself collected Oscar nominations for Best Adapted Screenplay for each film (both based on works by Stephen King), as well as nominations for both films from the Director's Guild of America, and a nomination from the Writers Guild of America for The Shawshank Redemption (1994). He won the Humanitas Prize, the PEN Center USA West Award, and the Scriptor Award for his screenplay of "The Shawshank Redemption". For "The Green Mile", he won the Broadcast Film Critics prize for his screenplay adaptation, and two People's Choice Awards in the Best Dramatic Film and Best Picture categories. The Majestic (2001), starring Jim Carrey, was released in December 2001. He executive-produced the thriller, Collateral (2004), for DreamWorks, with Michael Mann directing and Tom Cruise starring. Future produced-by projects include "Way of the Rat" at DreamWorks with Chuck Russell adapting and directing the CrossGen comic book series and "Back Roads", a Tawni O'Dell novel, also at DreamWorks, with Todd Field attached to direct. Darabont and his production company, "Darkwoods Productions", have an overall deal with Paramount Pictures.Wrote a pair of episodes of Tales From The Crypt Keeper as well as screenplays for the quite excellent The Shawshank Redemption and The Mist, which may be flawed but that dark twist ending it a knock-out.- Writer
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Scott Frank was born on 10 March 1960 in Fort Walton Beach, Florida, USA. He is a writer and producer, known for Logan (2017), Out of Sight (1998) and The Lookout (2007).Probably most known for his directorial effort The Lookout - a clever neo-noir - he has also written the deliciously convoluted Malice, the cyberpunk detective film Minority Report, and - my personal favorite - the romantic supernatural mystery Dead Again.- Writer
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David Koepp is an American film director and screenwriter. He is known for writing Jurassic Park directed by Steven Spielberg, The Lost World: Jurassic Park, Mission: Impossible, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, Spider-Man directed by Sam Raimi and Panic Room directed by David Fincher. He also directed You Should Have Left starring Kevin Bacon and Amanda Seyfried.Screenwriter for many high profile Hollywood films, but he has done his fair share of twisty thrillers - including his directorial efforts Stir of Echoes, Secret Window, and Premium Rush - and his strictly written work Panic Room, Snake Eyes, and Mission: Impossible.- Writer
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Steven Moffat was born on 18 November 1961 in Paisley, Scotland, UK. He is a writer and producer, known for Doctor Who (2005), Sherlock (2010) and The Adventures of Tintin (2011). He has been married to Sue Vertue since 1999. They have two children. He was previously married to Maggie.Wrote the episode Blink for Doctor Who which was brilliant - it should of been adapted for film rather than sequestered in the middle of a serialized television show. Other work includes the episode Study in Pink for the show Sherlock and the screenplay for The Adventures of Tin Tin.- Actor
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Mark Gatiss is an accomplished author, actor and playwright. Originally from Sedgefield, County Durham, he graduated from Bretton Hall Drama College with a BA (honors) in Theatre Arts.
He was one-quarter of the award-winning comedy team The League of Gentlemen (1999), and became heavily involved in the post-television Doctor Who (1963) scene, having written a variety of novels and audio plays, together with a string of short supernatural/science-fiction films (most of which he appeared in). He also co-wrote three sketches for BBC2's "Doctor Who Night" in November 1999.
When Doctor Who (2005) was re-imagined by Russell T. Davies and returned to television, Gatiss became part of the writing team. He had another major success as the co-creator of Sherlock (2010) for the BBC with Steven Moffat and also stars in the series as Mycroft Holmes. He has co-written plays for the Edinburgh Festival and appeared in a number of theatre and radio shows.Writer of a few episodes of Sherlock, wrote the horror omnibus Crooked House, and - outside of film - wrote many thriller tales for BBC radio.- Writer
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Born in Santa Monica, California, on December 4, 1951, Mick Garris grew up with his mother in the San Fernando Valley neighborhood of Van Nuys from age 12, following his parents' divorce. Garris was making his own 8mm home movies around that time, and when he got older be became a freelance critic for a number of film and music celebrities. He wrote publications for various bands and movies for newspapers and magazines like "The San Diego Door", "The Los Angewles Herald-Examiner", "Cinefantastique" and "Starlog" through the 1970s.
For eight years he was the lead singer in a band called The Horsefeathers Quintet, which disbanded in 1976. In 1977 Garris was hired as a receptionist in George Lucas' newly formed company Star Wars Corporation where, through industry contacts, he created and served as the on-screen host for a Los Angeles cable access interview program show called "Fastasy Film Festival," which aired on L.A.'s legendary Z-Channel. Guests included filmmakers like John Landis, Joe Dante, John Carpenter and Steven Spielberg and actors like William Shatner and Christopher Lee.
In 1980 Garris worked as a press agent for the newly merged Pickwick-Maslansky-Koeninsberg agency. He also began making a name for himself with photographing and directing "making-of..." features for such films as Scanners (1981), The Howling (1981), Halloween II (1981), The Thing (1982) and Videodrome (1983). In 1982 Garris was hired by MCA/Universal to write the script for Coming Soon (1982), which was a collection of horror movie trailers featuring Jamie Lee Curtis as the hostess and directed by John Landis. While struggling to find more work, Garris was hired by Steven Spielberg to be one of the writers and story editors for Spielberg's sci-fi anthology series Amazing Stories (1985). Garris worked as as an editor again for Spielberg in the sci-fi fantasy *batteries not included (1987). He also wrote screenplays for more horror anthology TV shows, from Freddy's Nightmares (1988) to a stint on the HBO cable series Tales from the Crypt (1989), as well as co-writer on the screenplays for The Fly II (1989) and the 'Stephen Sommers' remake The Mummy (1999). Garris wrote and directed Psycho IV: The Beginning (1990) as a prequel to the Anthony Perkins "Psycho" films, featuring Perkins in his fourth (and last) appearance as Norman Bates. Co-starring with Perkins was Henry Thomas (from E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982) fame), whom Garris hired to play young Norman. That same year Garris was approached by MCA/Universal to create a syndicated TV series about werewolves which was to be based on the hit John Landis film An American Werewolf in London (1981). The resulting series, She-Wolf of London (1990), ran for two seasons.
In 1992 Garris directed an original screenplay by Stephen King, Sleepwalkers (1992). The following year Garris received story and screenplay credit for the comic horror film Hocus Pocus (1993), and the year after that he took the reins at the request of Stephen King for the six-hour mini-series The Stand (1994) based on King's best-selling horror novel. The mini-series, which had a grueling 20-month shooting schedule, was one of the most-watched shows of 1994. Garris and King again teamed up for a three-part made-for-TV rewriting of King's novel, The Shining (1997). Later that year Garris oversaw the directing for Quicksilver Highway (1997), based on a pair of horror stories by King and Clive Barker. Garris directed Höst (1998) (later changed to "Virtual Obsession"), based on a novel by Peter James, with a screenplay written by P.G. Sturges, about a computer genius stalked by a female colleague bent on digitizing her consciousness. Taking a break from horror films, Garris directed The Judge (2001), an adaption of the mystery novel by Steve Martini. Garris and Stephen King reunited for Riding the Bullet (2004), directed by Garris and written by King, based on an internet short short about a hitchhiker being picked up by a soul-searching angel of death driving a 1959 Plymouth. They also collaborated on Desperation (2006), based on King's 1997 horror novel.
In 2005 Garris was able to assemble a group of his fellow horror film directors in the anthology horror series Masters of Horror (2005), which he created and executive-produced. Garris' own contribution, "Chocolate", was based on his own short story, written 20 years earlier.Creator of the anthology series Fear Itself and Masters of Horror, both of which had mixed results but always a twist in the end. Garris also wrote episodes for Spielberg's own anthology series Amazing Stories which ranged from hits (like Life on Death Row) to misses (like The Greibble).- Writer
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Chris Sparling was born on 21 March 1977 in Providence, Rhode Island, USA. He is a writer and producer, known for Buried (2010), The Sea of Trees (2015) and The Atticus Institute (2015).A new writer on the block for twisty thrillers. His first two works - the minimalist Buried and ATM - indicate that he's got talent (well, more so Buried than ATM). Indeed, anyone who can formulate a clever plot from one location is gifted.- Writer
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Ted Griffin was born on 21 December 1970 in Pasadena, California, USA. He is a writer and producer, known for Ocean's Eleven (2001), Terriers (2010) and Ravenous (1999). He has been married to Sutton Foster since 25 October 2014. They have one child.Lately he hasn't been producing anything of note, but his initial run of films he's scripted - Ravenous, Best Laid Plans, Ocean's Eleven, and (most notably) Matchstick Men - all were cleverly crafted tales.- Writer
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Ehren Kruger is an American film producer and screenwriter who is known for writing The Ring starring Naomi Watts and Daveigh Chase. He also wrote a majority of the Transformers sequels, Scream 3 & 4, Reindeer Games, The Ring Two, Blood & Chocolate, Dumbo, The Skeleton Key, The Brothers Grimm and Ghost in the Shell.The guy certainly is rather hit or miss, but his work on Arlington Road - and, to a lesser degree, The Skeleton Key, Reindeer Games, and Imposter - shows he can pull off a twist or two.- Writer
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Kurt Wimmer was born on 9 March 1964. He is a writer and producer, known for Equilibrium (2002), Total Recall (2012) and Point Break (2015).Another who is hit or miss with his material, but his work on The Recruit - and, to a lesser degree, Street Kings, Salt and the Total Recall remake - show he is capable of producing a measure of twists and turns.- Writer
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As a child Williamson was a fond fan of movies, especially those of Steven Spielberg. After high school, Williamson went to college for a future in acting. Though he landed very small parts on T.V. shows and movies, nothing had happened. Williamson moved out to L.A in 1990 in hopes it would aid his career, but nothing had come up. While in L.A. he took up a class at UCLA on screenwriting. There he wrote his first script, "Teaching Ms. Tingle" (titled at this time Killing Ms. Tingle). After the movie was complete, Williamson ended up on the streets again looking for work. One night, while house-sitting for a friend, Williamson watched a special on the Gainesville Ripper. This gave birth to what would soon be Scream. After this, he went out to Palm Springs for three days and wrote the script. After the grueling few months of production hell, Scream was released to the public on December 20th, 1996. This spiraled four sequels and a new chapter in horror film history forever.Yet another whose work is hit or miss, but no one can argue the cleverness of his script for Scream. His later films strive for twists but seem to only recycle his own previous work.- Russell Gewirtz is known for Inside Man (2006), Righteous Kill (2008) and Inside Man: Most Wanted (2019).His first film - Inside Man - played out some nice twists, his second film - Righteous Kill - played out some bad ones... still unproven.
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Born in Puducherry, India, and raised in the posh suburban Penn Valley area of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, M. Night Shyamalan is a film director, screenwriter, producer, and occasional actor, known for making movies with contemporary supernatural plots.
He is the son of Jayalakshmi, a Tamil obstetrician and gynecologist, and Nelliate C. Shyamalan, a Malayali doctor. His passion for filmmaking began when he was given a Super-8 camera at age eight, and even at that young age began to model his career on that of his idol, Steven Spielberg. His first film, Praying with Anger (1992), was based somewhat on his own trip back to visit the India of his birth. He raised all the funds for this project, in addition to directing, producing and starring in it. Wide Awake (1998), his second film, he wrote and directed, and shot it in the Philadelphia-area Catholic school he once attended--even though his family was of a different religion, they sent him to that school because of its strict discipline.
Shyamalan gained international recognition when he wrote and directed 1999's The Sixth Sense (1999), which was a commercial success and later nominated for six Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Director and Best Original Screenplay. Shyamalan team up again with Bruce Willis in the film Unbreakable (2000), released in 2000, which he also wrote and directed.
His major films include the science fiction thriller Signs (2002), the psychological thriller The Village (2004), the fantasy thriller Lady in the Water (2006), The Happening (2008), The Last Airbender (2010), After Earth (2013), and the horror films The Visit (2015) and Split (2016).He's the butt-end of jokes lately, but his earlier works - namely The Sixth Sense, Unbreakable, and Signs - can't be ignored for their cleverness and ingenuity... even if he's been downhill since those films.