Elmore Leonard

Elmore John Leonard, Jr. (October 11, 1925 – August 20, 2013) was an American novelist and screenwriter. His earliest novels, published in the 1950s, were Westerns, but Leonard went on to specialize in crime fiction and suspense thrillers, many of which have been adapted into motion pictures.

Among his best-known works are Get Shorty, Out of Sight, Hombre, Mr. Majestyk, and Rum Punch (adapted for the movie Jackie Brown). Leonard's writings include short stories that became the films 3:10 to Yuma and The Tall T, as well as the current FX television series Justified.

Early life and education
Leonard was born in New Orleans, Louisiana, the son of Flora Amelia (née Rive) and Elmore John Leonard, Sr. Because his father worked as a site locator for General Motors, the family moved frequently for several years. In 1934, the family settled in Detroit.

He graduated from the University of Detroit Jesuit High School in 1943 and immediately joined the Navy, where he served with the Seabees for three years in the South Pacific (gaining the nickname "Dutch", after pitcher Dutch Leonard). Enrolling at the University of Detroit in 1946, he pursued writing more seriously, entering his work in short story contests and sending it off to magazines. He graduated in 1950 with a bachelor's degree in English and philosophy. A year before he graduated, he got a job as a copy writer with Campbell-Ewald Advertising Agency, a position he kept for several years, writing on the side.

Career
Leonard got his first break in the fiction market during the 1950s, regularly publishing pulp Western novels. Leonard had his first success in 1951 when Argosy published the short story "Trail of the Apaches". During the 1950s and early 1960s, he continued writing Westerns, publishing more than 30 short stories. He wrote his first novel, The Bounty Hunters, in 1953 and followed this with four other novels. Five of his westerns were turned into major movies before 1972: The Tall T (Richard Boone), 3:10 to Yuma (Glenn Ford), and Hombre (Paul Newman), Valdez Is Coming (Burt Lancaster), and Joe Kidd (Clint Eastwood).

He went on to write seventeen novels and stories in the mystery, crime, and more topical genres which were made into movies between 1969 and 2013.

In 1985, his breakout novel, Glitz was published. At the time of his death he had sold tens of millions of copies of his novels.

Among his later movies are Jackie Brown (directed by Quentin Tarantino) which is a "homage to the author’s trademark rhythm and pace"; Get Shorty (1995, John Travolta and Gene Hackman); and Out of Sight (1999, George Clooney and Jennifer Lopez, directed by Steven Soderbergh).

Personal life
He married Beverly Claire Cline in 1949, and they had five children together—three daughters and two sons —before divorcing in 1977. His second marriage in 1979, to Joan Leanne Lancaster (aka Joan Shepard), ended with her death in 1993. Later that same year, he married Christine Kent, and they divorced in 2012.

Leonard spent the last years of his life with his family in Oakland County, Michigan. He suffered a stroke on July 29, 2013. Initial reports stated that Leonard was recovering from the stroke. On August 20, 2013, Leonard died at his home in the Detroit suburb of Bloomfield Hills of complications from the stroke. He was 87 years old. Leonard is survived by his five children, 13 grandchildren, and five great-grandchildren.

Writing style
Commended by critics for his gritty realism and strong dialogue, Leonard sometimes took liberties with grammar in the interest of speeding along the story. In his essay "Elmore Leonard's Ten Rules of Writing" he said: "My most important rule is one that sums up the 10: If it sounds like writing, I rewrite it." He also hinted: "Try to leave out the part that readers tend to skip."

Elmore Leonard has been called "the Dickens of Detroit" because of his intimate portraits of people from that city; however, Leonard had said, "If I lived in Buffalo, I'd write about Buffalo." His ear for dialogue has been praised by writers such as Saul Bellow, Martin Amis, and Stephen King. "Your prose makes Raymond Chandler look clumsy," Amis told Leonard at a Writers Guild event in Beverly Hills in 1998. Stephen King has called him "the great American writer."

Leonard often cited Ernest Hemingway as one of his most important influences, but at the same time criticized Hemingway for his lack of humor.

Awards and honors

 * 1992 Grand Master Edgar Award from the Mystery Writers of America
 * 2008 F. Scott Fitzgerald Literary Award for outstanding achievement in American literature; received during the 13th Annual F. Scott Fitzgerald Literary Conference held at Montgomery College in Rockville, Maryland, United States.
 * 2010 Peabody Award, FX's Justified
 * 2012 National Book Award, Medal for Distinguished Contribution

Stories
Also wrote a short story in the anthology Murderers' Row edited by Otto Penzler (2001) (back story for Tishomingo Blues)

Nonfiction

 * 10 Rules of Writing (2007)
 * Foreword to Walter Mirisch's book I Thought We Were Making Movies, Not History

Adaptations
Twenty-six of Leonard's novels and short stories have been adapted for the screen (19 as motion pictures and another seven as television programs).

Film
Aside from the short stories already noted, a number of Leonard's novels have been adapted as films, including Out of Sight in 1998, Get Shorty in 1995, and Rum Punch (as the 1997 film Jackie Brown). 52 Pick-Up was first adapted very loosely into the 1984 film The Ambassador, starring Robert Mitchum and, two years later, under its original title starring Roy Scheider. He has also written several screenplays based on his novels, plus original ones such as Joe Kidd.

The 1967 film Hombre starring Paul Newman was an adaptation of Leonard's novel of the same name.

His short story "Three-Ten to Yuma" and novels The Big Bounce and 52 Pick-Up have each been filmed twice.

Other novels filmed include:
 * Mr. Majestyk (with Charles Bronson)
 * Valdez Is Coming (with Burt Lancaster)
 * 52 Pick-Up (with Roy Scheider)
 * Stick (with Burt Reynolds)
 * The Moonshine War (with Alan Alda)
 * Last Stand at Saber River (with Tom Selleck)
 * Gold Coast (with David Caruso)
 * Glitz (with Jimmy Smits)
 * Cat Chaser (with Peter Weller)
 * Out of Sight (George Clooney, Jennifer Lopez)
 * Touch (with Christopher Walken)
 * Pronto (with Peter Falk)
 * Be Cool (with John Travolta)
 * Killshot (Diane Lane, Mickey Rourke).
 * Get Shorty (with John Travolta)
 * Life of Crime (with Jennifer Aniston)

Television
The short-lived 1998 TV series Maximum Bob was based on Leonard's novel of the same name. It aired on ABC for 7 episodes and starred Beau Bridges.

The TV series Karen Sisco (2003–04) starring Carla Gugino was based on the U.S. Marshall character from the film Out of Sight played by Jennifer Lopez.

The 2010 FX series Justified is based around the popular Leonard character U.S. Marshal Raylan Givens from the novels Pronto and Riding the Rap and the short story "Fire in the Hole."

Leonard was referenced in the television show Leverage in episode 105 "The Bank Shot Job" when Aldis Hodge as Alec Hardison and Beth Riesgraf as Parker introduced themselves to police officers as FBI agents Leonard and Elmore.

Leonard was referenced in the television show Homicide: Life on the Street in the first episode "Gone for Goode" when Richard Belzer as Detective John Munch tells a lying suspect that his false story had an "Elmore Leonard quality."

In 1992, Leonard played himself in a script he wrote and, with actor Paul Lazar dramatizing a scene from the novel Swag, appeared in a humorous television short about his writing process which aired on the "Byline Showtime" series on Showtime Networks.