Charles Williams (writer, 1909)
Charles Williams (born August 13, 1909 in San Angelo , Texas , † April 7, 1975 in Los Angeles ) was an American writer and screenwriter . He was one of the most successful crime novelists in the 1950s and 1960s . Many of his works have been filmed, for example On Love and Death and Death Silence .
biography
Williams grew up in Texas and entered the US Merchant Navy after leaving school, where he trained as a radio operator . After 10 years of service, he married and worked as a radio technician for RCA in Galveston , Texas and later, until the end of World War II , at the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard .
In 1951 he published the novel Hill Girl , which immediately became a bestseller with more than one million copies sold and enabled Williams to work as a professional writer. He traveled the world with his wife and stayed for a long time in France, where he was widely recognized as a writer. After his wife's death in 1972, lived Williams some time alone in a caravan on the border between California and Oregon . In 1975 he committed suicide in Los Angeles .
plant
Williams is one of the hardboiled authors' circles with his novels . In his early novels, a man usually succumbs to the sexual stimuli of a beautiful woman and is then instigated by her to commit a crime for which he must then atone alone.
The works The Diamond Bikini and Moonshine Whiskey are "cheerful" novels, told from the point of view of a little boy, that revolve around the illegal distilling of whiskey.
His late novels often take place at sea, where usually an innocent couple gets caught up in a crime, but is then able to save themselves with intact skin.
In 1956 he received the Grand prix de littérature policière for his novel "The Great Turn" ( Nothing in Her Way ) .
Works
- 1951 Hill Girl
- Die Liebe der Brüder, German by Ruth Göth; Lichtenberg, Munich 1963.
- 1951 Big City Girl
- The girl from the big city, German by Fritz Moeglich ; Heyne, Munich 1970.
- 1951 River Girl (also published under the title The Catfish Tangle )
- The girl from the river, German by Werner Gronwald; Heyne, Munich 1965.
- 1953 Hell Hath No Fury (also released under the title The Hot Spot )
- Until the murder do you part, German from Christiane Nogly; Heyne, Munich 1966. ISBN 3-453-10473-0
- also as: The Hot Spot, same translation; Heyne, Munich 1990. ISBN 3-453-04811-3
- 1953 Nothing in Her Way
- The big turn, German by Helmut Degner ; Heyne, Munich 1967.
- 1954 Go Home, Stranger
- Only the dead knew, by Walter Schulz-Brown; Lehing, Hanover 1957.
- New translation: His great bluff, German by Werner Gronwald; Heyne, Munich 1962. ISBN 3-453-10521-4
- 1954 A Touch of Death (also published under the title Mix Yourself a Redhead )
- 100 miles fear, German by Helmut Degner; Heyne, Munich 1967.
- 1955 Scorpion Reef (also published under the title Gulf Coast Girl )
- The wind blows hot from the Yucatan, from Günter Hehemann; Heyne, Munich 1959. ISBN 3-453-10404-8
- 1956 The Big Bite
- The bait, German by Werner Gronwald; Heyne, Munich 1963. ISBN 3-453-10192-8
- 1956 The Diamond Bikini
- The diamond bikini, German by Werner Kortwich ; Heyne, Munich 1962. ISBN 3-453-08458-6
- 1958 Girl Out Back (also published under the title Operator )
- The dollar tree, German Helmut Degner; Heyne, Munich 1967.
- 1958 Talk of the Town (also published under the title Stain of Suspicion )
- Three days stay, German by Werner Gronwald; Heyne, Munich 1963.
- 1958 All the Way (also published under the title The Concrete Flamingo )
- The Flamingo Killer, German by Fritz Moeglich; Heyne, Munich 1965.
- 1958 Man on the Run (also published under the title Man in Motion )
- No alibi, German from Werner Gronwald; Heyne, Munich 1964.
- 1959 Uncle Sagamore and His Girls
- Mondschein-Whiskey, German from Fritz Moeglich; Heyne, Munich 1967.
- 1960 The Sailcloth Shroud
- To die three times is too much, by Werner Gronwald; Heyne, Munich 1962.
- 1960 Aground
- West of the Bahamas, German by Werner Gronwald; Heyne, Munich 1961. ISBN 3-453-10151-0
- 1962 The Long Saturday Night (also published under the titles Confidentially Yours and Finally, Sunday! )
- The long Saturday night, German by Werner Gronwald; Heyne, Munich 1963.
- also as: On love and death, same translation; Heyne, Munich 1984. ISBN 3-453-10690-3
- 1963 Dead Calm
- Deadly Calm, German by Ursula Michaelsen; Mosaik, Hamburg 1963. ISBN 3-453-10432-3
- also as: death silence, same translation; Heyne, Munich 1989. ISBN 3-453-03962-9
- 1966 The Wrong Venus (also published under the title Don't Just Stand There )
- The false Venus, German by Ingeborg Frauke Meier; Mosaic, Hamburg 1968.
- 1971 And The Deep Blue Sea
- Burial on the high seas, German Leni Sobez; Heyne, Munich 1972.
- 1973 Man on a Leash
- The man on a leash, German by Günter Hehemann; Heyne, Munich 1975. ISBN 3-453-10234-7
Film adaptations (selection)
- 1960: A dead person calls ( The 3rd Voice ) based on the novel "All the Way" - Director: Hubert Cornfield
- 1963: Hot plaster ( Peau de Banane ) based on the novel "Banana Peel" - director: Marcel Ophüls
- 1964: Shoot as long as you can ( L 'Arme à gauche ) based on the novel “Aground” - director: Claude Sautet
- 1968: Water off ( Do not Just Stand There! ) Based on the novel "The Wrong Venus" - Director: Ron Winston
- 1970: The Deep based on the novel "Dead Calm" - Director: Director: Orson Welles
- 1975: The man who died three times ( The Man Who Would Not Die ) based on the novel "The Sailcloth Shroud" - Director: Robert Arkless
- 1983: To love and death ( Vivement dimanche! ) Based on the novel “The Long Saturday Night” - Director: François Truffaut
- 1989: Dead Calm ( Dead Calm ) based on the novel - Director: Phillip Noyce
- 1990: The Hot Spot - Playing with Fire ( The Hot Spot ) based on the novel "Hell Hath No Fury" - Director: Dennis Hopper
Web links
- Charles Williams in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- List of works with synopsis (French)
personal data | |
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SURNAME | Williams, Charles |
BRIEF DESCRIPTION | American novelist and screenwriter |
DATE OF BIRTH | August 13, 1909 |
PLACE OF BIRTH | San Angelo |
DATE OF DEATH | April 7th 1975 |
Place of death | los Angeles |