Thomas P. Cullinan

Thomas P. Cullinan
Born	November 4, 1919 Cleveland, Ohio, U.S
Died	June 11, 1995(1995-06-11) (aged 75) Cleveland Heights, Ohio, U.S.
Cause of death	Heart attack

Thomas Cullinan (November 4, 1919 – June 11, 1995) was a novelist and playwright, as well as a writer for television. He is perhaps best known for his 1966 novel The Beguiled, which was made into two films of the same name in 1971, and again in 2017.

Early life

Cullinan was born and raised in Cleveland, Ohio, in an Irish-Catholic family. He graduated from Cathedral Latin High School in 1938, and later attended Case Western Reserve University.

Career

In addition to The Beguiled (1966), Cullinan's novel about the American Civil War, he wrote three novels—The Besieged (1970), The Eighth Sacrament (1977), and The Bedeviled (1978)—as well as several plays, which are still produced. He received a Ford Foundation grant to represent the United States at a literary colloquium in Berlin in 1964, and he wrote a weekly television program in his hometown of Cleveland, Ohio, both for WKYC, a local television affiliate, and for Case Western Reserve University. The Beguiled was twice made into a film: in 1971, starring Clint Eastwood and Geraldine Page, and in 2017, directed by Sofia Coppola and starring Nicole Kidman, Colin Farrell, Kirsten Dunst, and Elle Fanning.

Death

Cullinan died of a heart attack on June 11, 1995 at a local theater in Cleveland Heights where he was judging a high school playwrighting festival. Cullinan's papers are kept at the Kent State University archive, one of which is an unpublished play based on the Marilyn Sheppard murder case.

Awards

• Cleveland Arts Prize (1971)
• Ford Fondation grants (1964 and 1966)

Notable works

• 1966: The Beguiled
• 1970: The Besieged
• 1977: The Eighth Sacrament
• 1978: The Bedeviled 
• 1988: Inherited Illusions: Integrating the Sacred & the Secular
• 1998: Mrs. Lincoln
• If The Eye Be Sound
• The Roots Of Social Injustice
• Paths Are Made By Those Who Walk On Them