Elmore Leonard  

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Elmore John Leonard, Jr. (October 11, 1925 – August 20, 2013) was an American novelist and screenwriter. His earliest published novels 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 short stories include ones that became the films 3:10 to Yuma and The Tall T, as well as the current TV series on FX, Justified.

Writing style

Commended by critics for his gritty realism and strong dialogue, Leonard sometimes takes liberties with grammar in the interest of speeding along the story. In his essay "Elmore Leonard's Ten Rules of Writing" he says: "My most important rule is one that sums up the 10: If it sounds like writing, I rewrite it." He also hints: "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 has 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."

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.

A 2001 comedy film, Bandits, was originally meant to be an adaptation of Leonard's novel by that name, to which Bruce Willis owns the film rights; however, the producers brought in writer Harley Peyton to write a new script from scratch that bears little or no resemblance to Leonard's book.

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)

Works

Novels

Screenplays

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