Robert Ludlum

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Robert Ludlum (born May 25, 1927 in New York City , † March 12, 2001 in Naples , Florida ) was an American writer , actor and producer . To date, over 280 million copies of his thrillers have been sold worldwide and translated into 32 languages.

Life

Robert Ludlum grew up with his mother Margaret Wadsworth in Short Hills, New Jersey after his father, businessman George Hartford Ludlum, died in 1934. As a child he received private tuition and later attended the Cheshire Academy in Connecticut . At the age of 16 Ludlum appeared in the comedy Junior Miss on Broadway , before that he had already gained his first acting experience in various school performances. He originally wanted to be a football star as a child.

During the Second World War he volunteered for the Royal Canadian Air Force , but was turned down. Robert Ludlum then served in the US Marine Corps from 1945 to 1947 . He was stationed in the South Pacific, where he wrote a script of his impressions of the war. On his return he studied at Wesleyan University in Middletown , Connecticut, and graduated in 1951 with a Bachelor of Arts . In the same year he married the actress Mary Ryducha, with whom he had three children.

In the 1950s he worked again on Broadway and appeared on television shows. In 1957 he became a producer at the North Jersey Playhouse. After producing more than 300 plays, at the age of 40 he devoted himself to studying art history .

After graduating, he wrote his first book, "Das Scarlatti-Erbe" (The Scarlatti Inheritance), which was published in 1971 and immediately topped the bestseller lists . Since 1975 he has been a full-time writer. He moved to Long Island where he bought a 200 year old house. He had another residence in Florida . In later years he moved his center of life there entirely because the climate there was better for him. He traveled the world for his books, with Paris particularly appealing to him ( The Bourne Identity ; Prix ​​Mystère de la critique 1982). All 22 of the books he published during his lifetime were # 1 on the New York Times bestseller lists .

Robert Ludlum died of a heart attack at the age of 73 . Posthumously released yet several works of which the publisher already made scripts templates. Due to the great success of the Bourne films with Matt Damon in the title role, other ghost- written books were also published. The stories grew out of notes Ludlum left behind.

Writing habits

Ludlum started writing at four thirty each morning. He did this by hand out of conviction, because it made him feel more connected to the story. At noon he stopped writing, in the afternoon read the daily work and corrected passages with which he was not satisfied. His wife typed the first three of his books.

Books

In his thrillers Ludlum takes up one theme again and again: the struggle of an individual against apparently overpowering, barely comprehensible organizations. While his heroes were almost always American, an unreflective patriotism - which is often criticized in the works of the bestselling thriller author Tom Clancy - did not play a significant role. Rather, existing US institutions are partially questioned or their infiltration by secret societies or hostile powers are discussed. In The Matarese League at the end of the book, for example, it turns out that substantial parts of the US government and military have been taken over by members of the very criminal conspiracy against which the protagonist is fighting. In the foreword, Ludlum refers to the actually existing Trilateral Commission as inspiration, which is also the subject of numerous conspiracy theories.

Published in lifetime

  • 1971 The Scarlatti heritage - The Scarlatti Inheritance
  • 1972 The Ostermann Weekend - The Osterman Weekend
  • 1973 The Matlock Affair - The Matlock Paper
  • 1973 The Genessee Plot - Trevayne (under the pseudonym Jonathan Ryder )
  • 1974 The Halidon Chase - The Cry of the Halidon (under the pseudonym Jonathan Ryder )
  • 1974 The Rheinmann Exchange - The Rhinemann Exchange
  • 1975 The Gandolfo attack - The Road to Gandolfo (under the pseudonym Michael Shepherd )
  • 1976 The Jesus Paper - The Gemini Contenders
  • 1977 The Kastler manuscript - The Chancellor Manuscript
  • 1978 The Holcroft Agreement - The Holcroft Convenant
  • 1979 The Matarese Association - The Matarese Circle
  • 1980 Die Bourne Identity - The Bourne Identity (title of the first German-language edition: Der Borowski-Betrug )
  • 1982 The Parsifal Mosaic - The Parsifal Mosaic
  • 1984 The Aquitaine Conspiracy - The Aquitaine Progression
  • 1986 Das Bourne-Imperium - The Bourne Supremacy (title of the first German-language edition: Die Borowski-Herrschaft )
  • 1988 The Icarus Plan - The Icarus Agenda
  • 1990 The Bourne Ultimatum - The Bourne Ultimatum (Title of the first German-language edition: The Borowski Ultimatum )
  • 1992 The Omaha Conspiracy - The Road To Omaha
  • 1993 The Scorpio Illusion - The Scorpio Illusion
  • 1995 The Lennox Trap - The Apocalypse Watch
  • 1998 The Matarese Mosaic - The Matarese Countdown
  • 2000 The Prometheus Treason - The Prometheus Deception

Posthumous publications

  • 2001 The Sigma Protocol - The Sigma Protocol
  • 2002 The Janson Order - The Janson Directive
  • 2003 The Tristan fraud - The Tristan Betrayal
  • 2005 The Ambler Warning - The Ambler Warning
  • 2006 The Bancroft Strategy - The Bancroft Strategy
  • 2013 The Janson Command - The Janson Command
  • 2014 The Janson Option - The Janson Option

Covert-One series

Written by other authors, supposedly based on unpublished material by Ludlum.

  1. The Hades Factor ( The Hades Factor , by Gayle Lynds), 2000
  2. The Cassandra Plan ( The Cassandra Compact by Philip Shelby), 2001
  3. Paris The option ( The Paris option , Gayle Lynds), 2002
  4. The Altman Code ( The Altman Code , by Gayle Lynds), 2003
  5. The Lazarus Vendetta ( The Lazarus Vendetta , by Patrick Larkin), 2004
  6. The Moscow Virus ( The Moscow Vector , by Patrick Larkin), 2006
  7. Arctic Plan ( The Arctic Event , James Cobb), 2007
  8. The Ares Decision ( The Ares Decision , Kyle Mills), 2011
  9. The Janus retaliation ( The Janus Reprisal , Jamie Freveletti), 2012
  10. The Galdiano Experiment ( The Utopia Experiment , by Kyle Mills), 2013
  11. The Taylor Strategy ( The Geneva Strategy , by Jamie Freveletti), 2015
  12. The Nano-Invasion ( The Patriot Attack , by Kyle Mills), 2015

Continuations to Ludlum books

  1. The Bourne Legacy ( The Bourne Legacy , by Eric Van Lustbader ), 2004
  2. The Bourne fraud ( The Bourne Betrayal by Eric Van Lustbader), 2007
  3. The Bourne assassination ( The Bourne Sanction by Eric Van Lustbader), 2008
  4. The Bourne conspiracy ( The Bourne Deception by Eric Van Lustbader), 2009
  5. The Bourne Duell ( Bourne Objective , by Eric Van Lustbader), 2010
  6. The Bourne Command ( The Bourne Dominion , by Eric Van Lustbader), 2011
  7. The Bourne Betrayal ( The Bourne Imperative , by Eric Van Lustbader), 2014
  8. The Bourne Retribution ( The Bourne Retribution , by Eric Van Lustbader), 2015
  9. The Bourne rule ( The Bourne Ascendancy , by Eric Van Lustbader), 2016
  10. The Bourne Enigma ( The Bourne Enigma , by Eric Van Lustbader), 2016
  11. The Bourne Initiative (The Bourne Initiative , by Eric Van Lustbader), 2019
  12. The Bourne Nemesis , by Eric Van Lustbader, September 5, 2019, not yet published

Film adaptations

Some of Robert Ludlum's books have been made into films, although the films are usually very different from the books.

Video game

In June 2008 the video game Robert Ludlum's: The Bourne Conspiracy was released, which is based on the books.

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Ludlum, Robert
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Ryder, Jonathan (pseudonym); Shepherd, Michael (pseudonym)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American writer, actor, and producer
DATE OF BIRTH May 25, 1927
PLACE OF BIRTH New York City
DATE OF DEATH March 12, 2001
Place of death Naples, Florida