Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Milwaukiedave]

Many of the younger generation might not know who he is, but if you have ever seen "I Dream of Jeannie" or "The Patty Duke Show" he was the one responsible for creating these shows. He also wrote countless novels (which I've read all but one).

Author Sidney Sheldon dies at 89 By BOB THOMAS, Associated Press Writer

LOS ANGELES - Sidney Sheldon, who won awards in three careers � Broadway theater, movies and television � then at age 50 turned to writing best-selling novels about stalwart women who triumph in a hostile world of ruthless men, has died. He was 89.

Sheldon died Tuesday afternoon of complications from pneumonia at Eisenhower Medical Center in Rancho Mirage, said Warren Cowan, his publicist of more than 25 years. His wife, Alexandra, was by his side.

"I've lost a longtime and dear friend," Cowan said. "In all my years in this business, I've never heard an unkind word said about him."

Sheldon's books, with titles such as "Rage of Angels," "The Other Side of Midnight," "Master of the Game" and "If Tomorrow Comes," provided his greatest fame. They were cleverly plotted, with a high degree of suspense and sensuality and a device to keep the reader turning pages.

"I try to write my books so the reader can't put them down," he explained in a 1982 interview. "I try to construct them so when the reader gets to the end of a chapter, he or she has to read just one more chapter. It's the technique of the old Saturday afternoon serial: leave the guy hanging on the edge of the cliff at the end of the chapter."

Analyzing why so many women bought his books, he commented: "I like to write about women who are talented and capable, but most important, retain their femininity. Women have tremendous power � their femininity, because men can't do without it."

Sheldon was obviously not aiming at highbrow critics, whose reviews of his books were generally disparaging. He remained undeterred, promoting the novels and himself with genial fervor. A big, cheerful man, he bragged about his work habits.

Unlike other novelists who toiled over typewriters or computers, he dictated 50 pages a day to a secretary or a tape machine. He corrected the pages the following day, continuing the routine until he had 1,200 to 1,500 pages.

"Then I do a complete rewrite_ 12 to 15 times," he said. "I spend a whole year rewriting."

Several of his novels became television miniseries, often with the author as producer.

Sheldon began writing as a youngster in Chicago, where he was born Feb. 17, 1917. At 10, he made his first sale: $10 for a poem. During the Depression, he worked at a variety of jobs, attended Northwestern University and contributed short plays to drama groups.

At 17, he decided to try his luck in Hollywood. The only job he could find was as a reader of prospective film material at Universal Studio for $22 a week. At night he wrote his own screenplays and sold one, "South of Panama," to the studio for $250.

During World War II, he served as a pilot in the Army Air Corps. In the New York theater after the war he established his reputation as a prolific writer. At one time he had three musicals on Broadway: a rewritten "The Merry Widow," "Jackpot" and "Dream with Music." He received a Tony award as one of the writers of the Gwen Verdon hit "Redhead." His Broadway success brought about his return to Hollywood.

His first assignment, "The Bachelor and the Bobbysoxer," starring Cary Grant, Myrna Loy and Shirley Temple, brought him the Academy Award for best original screenplay of 1947.

While under contract to MGM, he recalled in 1982, "I worked like hell and I never stopped. Dore Schary (then production head) one day looked at a list of MGM projects. I had written eight of them, more than three other writers put together. That afternoon, he made me a producer."

With the movie business hurting because of television's popularity, Sheldon decided to try the new medium.

"I suppose I needed money," he remembered. "I met Patty Duke one day at lunch. So I produced 'The Patty Duke Show' (in which she played two cousins), and I did something nobody else in TV ever did. For seven years, I wrote almost every single episode of the series."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070131/ap_en_ot/obit_sheldon;_ylt=AlUI_ppZUX_IuGkHXiQ0XSGs0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTA3OTB1amhuBHNlYwNtdHM-

[bobbyhanlon]

cue the 'he is to be buried in an implausible plot' jokes..

[Kimchi Cowboy]

It was shortly after my father's death that I got seriously into reading (anylyze THAT, Dave'sians....)

A year or so later I got my hands on "Master of the Game" - the biggest novel I had ever laid hands on at that time.

I read that book entire book, at the age of 14, in a single <22 hour sitting...



None of his other books ever compared to M.o.t.G. And I still re-read it from time to time.

[Kimchi Cowboy]

...and I find it reprehensible, if not incomprehensible, that Sheldon's death (literary hack tho he may have been) has thus far generated fewer responses than that of a fucking HORSE!

[ajuma]

I've been reading Sidney Sheldon since he published his first book, and while his last few seemed "canned" to me (same thing happened with John Grisham and Danielle Steele (who's earlier books were REALLY REALLY great)), he still knew how to keep the reader dangling. I'll miss his well-told stories.

[Milwaukiedave]

I also started reading Sheldon's book's at a young age, maybe about 16. The first book I read is still my favorite, "If Tomrrow Comes." I have to admit some of his later works weren't as good. The other ones that rank up there are: Rage of Angles and Windmills of the Gods.

Yes, his books did always have the same underlying theme of a women overcoming adversity. But for those who were a fan of his books, it made them all the more interesting.