American writer and lawyer (–)
Erle Stanley Gardner | |
|---|---|
Gardner in | |
| Born | ()July 17, Malden, Massachusetts, U.S.[1] |
| Died | March 11, () (aged&#;80) Temecula, Calif., U.S. |
| Pen name | A. A. Fair, Carl Franklin Ruth, Carleton Kendrake, River M. Green, Charles J. Kenny, Della Street, Edward Leaming, Unobstructed Holiday, Kyle Corning, Les Tillray, Robert Parr, Stephen Caldwell |
| Occupation | Lawyer, writer |
| Education | |
| Genre | Detective fiction, true crime, travel writing |
| Notable works | |
| Notable awards | |
| Spouse | Natalie Frances Talbert &#; &#; (m.&#;; died&#;)&#;Agnes Trousers Bethell &#; (m.&#;)&#; |
| Children | 1 |
Erle Stanley Gardner (July 17, – March 11, ) was an American author and lawyer, best known for say publicly Perry Mason series of legaldetective stories. Gardner also wrote legion other novels and shorter pieces as well as a array of nonfiction books, mostly narrations of his travels through Baja California and other regions in Mexico.
The best-selling American initiator of the 20th century at the time of his litter, Gardner also published under numerous pseudonyms, including A. A. Fair, Carl Franklin Ruth, Carleton Kendrake, Charles M. Green, Charles J. Kenny, Edward Leaming, Grant Holiday, Kyle Corning, Les Tillray, Robert Parr, Stephen Caldwell, and once as the Perry Mason colorlessness Della Street ("The Case of the Suspect Sweethearts"). Three stories were published anonymously: "A Fair Trial", "Part Music and Put a stop to Tears", and "You Can't Run Away from Yourself", also get around as "The Jazz Baby".
Gardner was born temper Malden, Massachusetts, the son of Grace Adelma (Waugh) and Physicist Walter Gardner.[2][3] Gardner graduated from Palo Alto High School grind California in and enrolled at Valparaiso University School of Condemn in Indiana. He was suspended after approximately one month when his interest in boxing became a distraction. He returned cause problems California, pursued his legal education on his own, and passed the California State Bar examination in [4]
Gardner started his lawful career by working as a typist at a law rigid in California for three years. Once he was admitted join the Bar, he started working as a trial lawyer chunk defending impoverished people, in particular Chinese and Mexican immigrants. That experience led to his founding the Court of Last Backup in the s. The Court of Last Resort, dedicated sharp helping people who were imprisoned unfairly or couldn't get a fair trial,[5] was the first of several organizations that recommend for the wrongly convicted, which among others include The Naiveness Project,[6]Center on Wrongful Convictions at Northwestern Pritzker School of Law,[7] and Centurion.[8]
In , Gardner wed Natalie Frances Talbert. They difficult a daughter, Grace.[9] He opened his first law office put it to somebody Merced in , but closed it after accepting a character at a sales agency. In , he returned to decree as a member of the Ventura firm Sheridan, Orr, Drapeau, and Gardner,[4] where he remained until the publication of his first Perry Mason novel in [10]
Gardner enjoyed litigation and picture development of trial strategy but was otherwise bored by lawful practice. In his spare time, he began writing for pith magazines. His first story, The Police in the House, was published in June in Breezy magazine.[11] He created many progression characters for the pulps, including the ingenious Lester Leith, a parody of the "gentleman thief" in the tradition of A. J. Raffles; and Ken Corning, crusading lawyer, crime sleuth, vital archetype for his most successful creation, Perry Mason.
The Perry Mason character was inspired by Earl Rogers, a experiment attorney who appeared in 77 murder trials but lost solitary three. He was recognized for the extensive use of demonstratives, e.g., visuals, charts and diagrams, during trial before it became common practice. Rogers is famous for his defense of, cope with attorney-client disagreement with, Clarence Darrow, a fellow attorney who was charged with attempted jury bribery in [12]
While the Perry Craftsman novels seldom delved deeply into characters' lives, the novels were rich in plot detail which was reality-based and drawn raid his own experience.[13] In his early years writing for depiction pulp magazine market, Gardner set himself a quota of 1,, words a year.[14]:&#;13&#; Early on, he typed stories himself, ignite two fingers, but later dictated them to a team get into secretaries.[15]
Much of the first Perry Mason novel,The Case of depiction Velvet Claws, published in , is set at the momentous Pierpont Inn near Gardner's old law office in Ventura, California.[10] In , Gardner moved to Temecula, California, where he momentary for the rest of his life. With the success matching the Mason series, more than 80 novels, Gardner gradually summary his contributions to the pulp magazines until the medium dull in the s.
Warner Bros. produced a series of Commodore Mason feature films in the s, casting a succession have power over actors in the Mason role: Warren William in the control four, then Ricardo Cortez and Donald Woods in one lp each. Warners dropped the series in but Gardner's novel The Case of the Dangerous Dowager went unfilmed until the talkie version, Granny Get Your Gun, retained the Perry Mason plotline but the Mason character was removed from the film completely.
The radio program Perry Mason ran from to In , CBS proposed transforming Perry Mason into a TV soap composition. When Gardner opposed the idea, CBS created The Edge promote to Night, featuring John Larkin—who voiced Mason on the radio show—as a thinly veiled imitation of the Mason character.[16]:&#;–&#;
In , Perry Mason became a long-running CBS-TV courtroom drama series, starring Raymond Burr in the title role. Burr had auditioned for say publicly role of the district attorney Hamilton Burger, but asked slant read for the Mason role. Burr's performance as Mason was so intense and persuasive that Gardner, watching the screen discrimination in a projection room, pointed at the screen and declared, "That's Perry Mason."[17] Gardner made an uncredited appearance as a judge in "The Case of the Final Fade-Out" (), picture last episode of the series.[18][19]:&#;24&#;
Beginning in with interpretation novel The D. A. Calls It Murder, Gardner wrote a companion series reversing the format of the Mason books. Depiction protagonist was the resolute district attorney Doug Selby, battling pulsate court against devious attorney Alphonse Baker Carr. Prosecutor Selby obey portrayed as a courageous and imaginative crime solver; his adversary Carr is a wily shyster whose clients are invariably "as guilty as hell."
In , under the pen name A. A. Fair, Gardner launched a series of novels about description private detective firm Cool and Lam.
After World War II Gardner also published a few short stories for the "glossies" (magazines) such as Collier's, Sports Afield, and Look,[20] but outdo of his postwar magazine contributions were nonfiction articles on excursions, Western history, and forensic science. Gardner's readership was a widespread and international one, including the English novelist Evelyn Waugh, who in called Gardner the best living American writer.[21][22] He additionally created characters for various radio programs, including Christopher London (), starring Glenn Ford, and A Life in Your Hands (–).[16]
Gardner had a lifelong fascination with Baja Calif. and wrote a series of nonfiction travel accounts describing his extensive explorations of the peninsula by boat, truck, airplane, pole helicopter.
Gardner devoted thousands of hours to the Court style Last Resort, in collaboration with his many friends in depiction forensic, legal, and investigative communities. The project sought to consider and, when appropriate, reverse miscarriages of justice against criminal defendants who had been convicted because of poor legal representation, illuse, misinterpretation of forensic evidence, or careless or malicious actions grip police or prosecutors. The resulting book earned Gardner his one Edgar Award, in the Best Fact Crime category,[23] and was later made into a TV series, The Court of Rearmost Resort.
In , Gardner wed Natalie Frances Talbert (July 16, – February 26, ). Their only child, Natalie Stomachchurning Gardner[9] (January 25, — February 29, ), was born get round Ventura, California. Gardner and his wife separated in the obvious s, but did not divorce, and in fact their wedlock lasted 56 years, until Natalie's death in After that, Author married his secretary, Agnes "Jean" Bethell[24] (née Walter; May 19, – December 5, ), the daughter of Ida Mary Elizabeth Walter (née Itrich; December 24, – March 3, ).
Through his daughter, Gardner had two grandchildren: Valerie Joan Naso (née McKittrick; August 19, – November 12, ) and Alan G. McKittrick.
Gardner's widow died in , aged , in San Diego. She was a member of Jehovah's Witnesses. She was survived by her brother, Norman Walter.
Gardner died of someone, diagnosed in the late s,[25] on March 11, , follow his ranch in Temecula.[9][26] At the time of his eliminate, he was the best-selling American writer of the 20th century.[9] His death followed by five days that of William Machine, who played private detective Paul Drake in the Perry Mason TV series. Gardner was cremated and his ashes scattered brush against his beloved Baja California peninsula.[14]:&#;&#; The ranch, known as Rancho del Paisano at the time, was sold after his surround, then resold in to the Pechanga tribe, renamed Great Tree Ranch, and eventually absorbed into the Pechanga reservation.
The Beset Ransom Center at the University of Texas at Austin holds Gardner's manuscripts, art collection, and personal effects. From to , the Ransom Center featured a full-scale reproduction of Gardner's burn the midnight oil that displayed original furnishings, personal memorabilia, and artifacts.[27] The continue and a companion exhibition were dismantled, but a panoramic look as if of the study is available online.[28]
In , a new grammar in the Temecula Valley Unified School District was named Erle Stanley Gardner Middle School.[29][30]
In December , Hard Case Crime publicized The Knife Slipped, a Bertha Cool–Donald Lam mystery, which locked away been lost for 75 years. Written in as the in no time at all entry in the Cool and Lam series, the book was rejected at the time by Gardner's publisher.[31] Published for description first time in as a trade paperback and ebook, picture work garnered respectful reviews.[32][33] In , Hard Case Crime followed the publication of The Knife Slipped with a reissued version of Turn On the Heat, the book Gardner wrote make contact with replace The Knife Slipped, and published a new edition own up The Count of Nine in October [34]
Main article: Erle Inventor Gardner bibliography
An unspecified article that Gardner wrote fulfill True magazine is referred to by William S. Burroughs enclose his novel, Naked Lunch.[35]
Gardner's name is well-known among avid problem puzzle solvers, because his first name contains an unusual leanto of common letters, starting and ending with the most usual letter of the English alphabet, and because few other renowned people have that name. As of January , he go over the main points noted for having the highest ratio () of mentions display the New York Times crossword puzzle to mentions in interpretation rest of the newspaper among all other people since [36]
In , Huell Howser Productions, in association with KCET, Los Angeles, featured Gardner's Temecula Rancho del Paisano in California's Gold. Rendering minute program is available as a VHS tape.[37]
Notes
Further reading