John D. MacDonald (24 July, 1916-28 December, 1986) was an American writer of noir crime novels, most known for his novel The Executioners, later adapted to visual media as Cape Fear.
Fun Facts about John D. MacDonald:
1. John Dann MacDonald was bornin Sharon, Pennsylvania but the family moved to Utica, NY when he was 10 years old.
2. In 1934 his father, a treasurer of the Savage Arms corporation, a gunmaker in Massaschussets, gave him the option to spend another year in school as a post graduate or go travel in Europe. Mr. MacDonald chose the latter (who wouldn’t) and fell in love with travel and photography.
3. By 1939 John D. MacDonald earned an MBA from Harvard Business school. His knowledge helped to make the realistic financial scams in his novels.
4. During World War II, Mr. MacDonald became First Lieutenant MacDonald in the US Army Ordnance Corps. He later served in the China-Burma-India Theater as an OSS officer. He used his knowledge of the region in many of his short stories.
5. Before he was discharged in 1945, he was promoted to a Lieutenant Colonel, he wrote a short story called Interlude on India and mailed it to Dorothy, his wife. Unbeknownst to him, she submitted it to Story magazine. The story was published kicking off his writing career.
6. Travis McGee, John D. MacDonald’s famous fictional detective, was originally named Dallas McGee, however after the assassination of President Kennedy the author felt the name carried too much baggage and changed it to Travis, named after Travis Air Force base.
7. In 1957 Mr. MacDonald wrote the psychological thriller The Executioners. It wa adapted twice to be a featured film, both called Cape Fear (1957, 1991). Stephen King is a huge fan of the book, and even praised in his own non-fiction work On Writing.
8. Trevor McGee was not a Private Investigator (PI) but a “salvage consultant,” who finds stollen assets and keeps 50% of the value. He’s also a laid back beach-bum who drinks gin and lives on a boat he won in a poker game. Jimmy Buffet loved the character and often said the fictional PI was his inspiration for the life style he led.
9. John MacDonald hated Hollywood. He turned down huge amounts of money, unwilling to sell the movie rights to Travis McGee saying he didn’t want his most famous creation to be ruined by bad casting.
The only Trevor McGee movie made during his lifetime was Darker Than Amber starring Rod Taylor.
10. The author had a tremendous about of output, sometimes writing 800,000 words a year for pulp magazines, and publishing under different names. He kept strict “office hours”, writing from 9:00 AM – 5 PM on weekdays.
Zohar — Man of la Book
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Sources:
John D. MacDonald | Wikipedia
John D. MacDonald | Division of Arts and Culture
