Don Carpenter
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Don Carpenter (1931-1995) was an American writer. He wrote numerous novels, novellas, short stories and screenplays over the course of a 22-year career that took him from a childhood in Berkeley and the Pacific Northwest to the corridors of power and ego in Hollywood. A gifted observer of human frailty, he wrote penetratingly about both worlds with a rare talent for depicting marginal characters such as pool sharks, prisoners and drug dealers, as well as movie moguls and struggling actors. Although lauded by critics and fellow writers alike, Carpenter's novels and stories never reached a mass audience and he supported himself with extensive work for Hollywood. These experiences provided the grist for his acclaimed trio of novels from 1975-1981. He also wrote and co-produced the highly regarded film Payday starring Rip Torn, in 1972. Facing a mounting series of debilitating illnesses, Don Carpenter took his own life in 1995.
[edit] Works
- Hard Rain Falling (novel - 1966)
- Blade of Light (novel - 1967)
- The Murder of the Frogs and Other Stories (novellas and stories - 1969)
- Getting Off (novel - 1971)
- Payday (movie, 1972)
- The True Life Story of Jody McKeegan (novel - 1975)
- Charles Bukowski's Post Office (screenplay - 1977?)
- A Couple of Comedians (novel - 1979)
- Snyder, Whalen and Welch, Together (magazine article, 1981)
- Turnaround (novel - 1981)
- The Class of '49 (novel and two stories - 1985)
- The Dispossessed (novel - 1986)
- From A Distant Place (novel - 1988)
