Jonathan Wyatt Latimer (October 23, 1906 – June 23, 1983) was an American crime writer known his novels and screenplays. Before becoming an author, Latimer was a journalist in Chicago.
Jonathan Latimer | |
|---|---|
| Born | October 23, 1906 Chicago, Illinois, U.S. |
| Died | June 23, 1983 (aged 76) La Jolla, California, U.S. |
| Alma mater | Knox College |
| Occupations |
|
Early life and education
editBorn in Chicago, Illinois, Latimer attended Mesa Ranch School in Mesa, Arizona. He then studied at Knox College in Galesburg, Illinois, where he graduated Phi Beta Kappa in 1929.[1]
During World War II, Latimer served in the United States Navy. After the war, he moved to California and continued his work as a Hollywood screenwriter, including 10 films in collaboration with director John Farrow.[2][3]
Career
editLatimer became a journalist at the Chicago Herald Examiner and later for the Chicago Tribune, writing about crime and meeting Al Capone and Bugs Moran, among others.[4] In the mid-1930s, he turned to writing fiction, starting with a series of novels featuring private eye William Crane, in which he introduced his typical blend of hardboiled crime fiction and elements of screwball comedy.[5][6]
Death
editLatimer died of lung cancer in La Jolla, California on June 23, 1983, aged 76.[7]
Select bibliography
editThe William Crane series
edit- Murder in the Madhouse (1935)[8]
- Headed for a Hearse (1935) filmed 1937 as The Westland Case; Preston Foster as Crane
- The Lady in the Morgue (1936) filmed 1938 (aka The Case of the Missing Blonde in the UK); Preston Foster as Crane
- The Dead Don't Care (1938) filmed 1938 as The Last Warning; Preston Foster as Crane
- Red Gardenias (1939)
Non-series novels
edit- The Search for My Great Uncle's Head (1937) (as Peter Coffin)[9]
- Solomon's Vineyard (1941 (UK)) (published in paperback in 1951, first unexpurgated US edition 1988, and republished in 2014 under the title The Fifth Grave)[10]
- Sinners and Shrouds (1955)[11]
- Black Is the Fashion for Dying (1959)
Non-crime novels
editShort stories
editScreenplays
edit- The Lone Wolf Spy Hunt (1939) (based on a novel by Louis Joseph Vance)
- Topper Returns (1941) (original screenplay)
- The Glass Key (1942) (based on the Dashiell Hammett novel)
- Night in New Orleans (1942) (based on a novel by James R. Langham)
- Nocturne (1946)
- They Won't Believe Me (1947) (based on a story by Gordon McDonell)
- Sealed Verdict (1948)
- The Big Clock (1948) (based on the Kenneth Fearing novel)
- Night Has a Thousand Eyes (1948) (based on the Cornell Woolrich novel)
- Beyond Glory (1948)
- Alias Nick Beal (1949) (with Mindret Lord)
- Copper Canyon (1950)
- Submarine Command (1951), screenplay from his own story, starring William Holden
- The Redhead and the Cowboy (1951)
- Botany Bay (1952)
- Plunder of the Sun (1953) (based on the David F. Dodge novel)
- Back from Eternity (1956)
- The Unholy Wife (1957) (co-authored with William Durkee)
- The Strange Case of the Cosmic Rays (1957) (with Frank Capra)
- The Unchained Goddess (1958) (with Frank Capra)
- The Whole Truth (1958)
- 32 episodes of the Perry Mason television series[14]
- The Greenhouse Jungle (from the second season of the Columbo television series, 1972)[15]
Other Films Based on Stories by Latimer
edit- Phantom Raiders 1940, 2nd in a series of Nick Carter movies starring Walter Pidgeon
See also
edit- Hard boiled American crime fiction for a discussion of Solomon's Vineyard, the publication of which was suppressed in the United States for a long time.
References
edit- ^ "Jonathan Latimer (1906-1983)". thrillingdetective.com. Archived from the original on 7 March 2021.
- ^ Angelini, Sergio (25 July 2012). "J is for Jonathan Latimer". Tipping My Fedora. wordpress. Retrieved 9 April 2016.
- ^ "Latimer (Jonathan) Miscellaneous Scripts and Screenplays". oac.cdlib.org. Retrieved 17 March 2020.
- ^ "Register of the Jonathan Latimer, Miscellaneous Scripts and Screenplays". Online Archive of California.
- ^ "Latimer, Jonathan". PBworks. Retrieved 17 March 2020.
- ^ "Author Jonathan Latimer". tomrizzo.com. Retrieved 17 March 2020.
- ^ "Jonathan Latimer Dies at 76; Writer of 'Perry Mason' Show". The New York Times. AP. 25 June 1983.
- ^ Case, Elizabeth N. (21 April 1935). "Thrills and Chills for Mystery Fans". The Hartford Daily Courant. p. 6E – via Newspapers.com.
Murder In The Madhouse by Jonathan Latimer; published forThe Crime Club, Inc. by Doubleday, Doran & Co. Inc. Garden City New York.
- ^ Stevens, Rodney (24 September 1989). "Lots of diverse reading in Publishers Weekly". Anderson Independent-Mail. p. 4B – via Newspapers.com.
Jonathan Latimer's "The Search for my Great Uncle's Head". Better a head, perhaps, than some of these books.
- ^ Richardson, Maurice (26 October 1941). "The Crime Ration". The Observer. London. p. 3 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ Richardson, Maurice (5 August 1956). "Crime Ration". The Observer. London. p. 7 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ Simmons, Fritz Raley (21 April 1940). "Impressions and Expressions". News and Record. Greensboro, NC. p. 6D – via Newspapers.com.
Dark Memory is entertaining
- ^ "Important Features". The Pittsburgh Press. Vol. 54, no. 307. 1 May 1938. p. 1 – via Newspapers.com.
This Week Magazine features a story, "A Jokes a Joke", by Jonathan Latimer
- ^ Rode, Alan K (7 February 2017). "TV's Mightiest Mouthpiece—The Noir Roots of Perry Mason". One Way Street.
Perhaps the most notable of the show's writers was Jonathan Latimer, who penned 32 episodes from 1958 to 1965.
- ^ "Jonathan Latimer". British Film Institute. Archived from the original on 19 March 2019.
1972, The Greenhouse Jungle, Teleplay
External links
edit- Jonathan Latimer Miscellaneous Scripts and Screenplays MSS 133. Special Collections & Archives, UC San Diego Library.
- Petri Liukkonen. "Jonathan Latimer". Books and Writers.
- Jonathan Latimer at IMDb