Tuesday, July 24, 2007

Happy birthday, John D. MacDonald.

MWA Grand Master John D. MacDonald, creator of Florida PI Travis McGee, was born today in 1916. He died in 1986.

His work adapted for the screen includes the celebrated Cape Fear (1962, 1991); "First Prize for Murder" (Studio One, 1957); "Hangover" (The Alfred Hitchcock Hour, 1962); "The Deep End" (Kraft Suspense Theater, 1964); and The Girl, the Gold Watch, and Everything (1980).

For an appreciation of MacDonald's work by Washington Post book critic Jonathan Yardley, go here.

"The only thing in the world worth a damn is the strange, touching, pathetic, awesome nobility of the individual human spirit."—JDM, A Deadly Shade of Gold (1965)

Photo credit: John D. MacDonald, right, with fellow author Donald Westlake, date unknown. Photo courtesy of Maynard MacDonald, for the Estate of John D. MacDonald.

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