William Riley Burnett (November 25, 1899 April 25, 1982) was an American crime novelist and screenwriter.
His debut novel Little Caesar (1929) was adapted into the 1931 film of the same name, which is considered the first of the classic American gangster movies. Several of his other novels and short stories were also adapted to screen, notably High Sierra and The Asphalt Jungle.
As a screenwriter, Burnett was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay for his work on Wake Island (1942). His other notable film credits included Scarface (1932), This Gun for Hire (1942), Vendetta (1950), and The Great Escape (1963).
Early life Burnett was born in Springfield, Ohio, and attended Miami Military Institute in Germantown, Ohio. He left his civil service job in Springfield to move to Chicago when he was 28, by which time he had written over 100 short stories and five novels, all unpublished.McGilligan & Mate pp 56-57
Novelist In Chicago, Burnett found a job as a night clerk in the Northmere Hotel. His experiences with the people at the hotel, including gangsters, inspired Little Caesar (novel 1929, film 1931). The novel's overnight success landed him a job as a Hollywood screenwriter. Little Caesar became a classic movie, produced by First National Pictures (Warner Brothers) and starring then little known Edward G. Robinson.
Burnett was hired by Howard Hughes to write a draft of Scarface although director Howard Hawks disliked it and the script was rewritten by established playwright and screenwriter Ben Hecht.Mate & McGilligan p 60
He won the 1930 O. Henry Award for his short story "Dressing-Up", published in Harper's in November 1929. In 1980, he won the Mystery Writers of America's Grand Master Award.
Burnett published a novel or more a year and turned most into screenplays (some as many as three times). Burnett was similar to Dashiell Hammett and James M. Cain, who all wrote in the hardboiled genre of fiction. He often contrasted the corruption and corrosion of the city with the better life his characters yearned for. He portrayed characters who, for one reason or another, fell into a life of crime and were unable to climb out. They typically get one last shot at salvation but the oppressive system closes in and denies redemption.
Screenwriter Burnett wrote for many actors and directors, including Raoul Walsh, John Huston, John Ford, Howard Hawks, Nicholas Ray, Douglas Sirk, Michael Cimino, Humphrey Bogart, Ida Lupino, Paul Muni, Frank Sinatra, Steve McQueen, and Clint Eastwood. He received an Oscar nomination for his script for Wake Island (1942) and a Writers Guild nomination for his script for The Great Escape. In addition to his film work, he also wrote scripts for television and radio.
In High Sierra (1941), Humphrey Bogart plays Roy Earle, a hard-bitten criminal who rejects his life of crime to marry a crippled girl. In The Asphalt Jungle (1950), the most perfectly masterminded plot falls apart as each character reveals a weakness. In The Beast of the City (1932) starring Walter Huston, the police take the law into their own hands when the criminals walk free due to legal incompetence.
Burnett was called back by Howard Hughes to work on Vendetta.
Later years In later years, with his vision declining, he stopped writing and turned to promoting his earlier work. On his death in 1982, in Santa Monica, California, Burnett was interred in the Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery in Glendale, California.
Critical reception Heywood Broun described Burnett's novel Goodbye to the Past as "written with all the excitement of Little Caesar, and ten times the skill".Advertisement for "Goodbye to the Past", The American Mercury, November 1934, (p. 225).
Bibliography
Novels
Little Caesar (The Dial Press - 1929) - as 'Lincoln MacVeagh' Iron Man (The Dial Press - 1930) - as 'Lincoln MacVeagh' Saint Johnson (The Dial Press - 1930) - as 'Lincoln MacVeagh' The Silver Eagle (The Dial Press - 1931) - as 'Lincoln MacVeagh' The Beast of the City (Grosset & Dunlap - 1932) [not properly a Burnett novel; credit on the book reads "novelized by Jack Lait, from the screen story by W.R. Burnett"; the book was published concurrently with the release of the M-G-M film, circa March 1932] The Giant Swing (Harper - 1932) Dark Hazard (Harper - 1933) Goodbye to the Past: Scenes from the Life of William Meadows (Harper - 1934) The Goodhues of Sinking Creek (Harper - 1934) Dr. Socrates (O'Bryan House Publishing LLC - 2007) [Originally serialized in Colliers Weekly Magazine in 1935] King Cole (Harper - 1936) The Dark Command: A Kansas Iliad (Knopf - 1938) High Sierra (Knopf - 1941) The Quick Brown Fox (Knopf - 1943) Nobody Lives Forever (Knopf - 1943) Tomorrow's Another Day (Knopf - 1946) Romelle (Knopf - 1947) The Asphalt Jungle (Knopf - 1949) Stretch Dawson (Gold Medal - 1950) - The film Yellow Sky (1948) was based on an unpublished early version of the novel Little Men, Big World (Knopf - 1952) Adobe Walls: A Novel of the Last Apache Rising (Knopf - 1953) Vanity Row (Knopf - 1952) Big Stan (Gold Medal - 1953) - as "John Monahan" Captain Lightfoot (Knopf - 1954) It's Always Four O'Clock (Random House - 1956) - as "James Updyke" Pale Moon (Knopf - 1956) Underdog (Knopf - 1957) Bitter Ground (Knopf - 1958) Mi Amigo: A Novel of the Southwest (Knopf - 1959) Conant (Popular Library - 1961) Round the Clock at Volari's (Gold Medal - 1961) The Goldseekers (Doubleday - 1962) The Widow Barony (Macdonald - 1962) The Abilene Samson (Pocket Books - 1963) Sergeants 3 (Pocket Books - 1963) The Roar of the Crowd: Conversations with an Ex-Big-Leaguer (C.N. Potter - 1964) The Winning of Mickey Free (Bantam Pathfinder - 1965) The Cool Man (Gold Medal - 1968) Good-bye, Chicago: 1928: End of an Era (St. Martin's - 1981)
Short stories "Round Trip" (1929) "Dressing-Up" (1930) "Traveling Light" (1935) "Vanishing Act" (1955)
Filmography
Screenwriter
Film +YearTitleDirectorNotesRef.1931The Finger PointsJohn Francis Dillon1932The Beast of the CityCharles BrabinScarfaceHoward Hawks1940The WesternerWilliam WylerUncredited1941The Get-AwayEdward BuzzellHigh SierraRaoul WalshBased on his 1940 novel1942This Gun for HireFrank TuttleWake IslandJohn Farrow1943Crash DiveArchie MayoAction in the North AtlanticLloyd BaconBackground to DangerRaoul Walsh1945San AntonioDavid Butler1946Nobody Lives ForeverJean NegulescoBased on his 1943 novelThe Man I LoveRaoul WalshUncredited1948Belle Starr's DaughterLesley Selander1950VendettaMel Ferrer1951The RacketJohn Cromwell1954Dangerous MissionLouis KingNight PeopleNunnally JohnsonUncredited1955Captain LightfootDouglas SirkBased on his 1954 novelIllegalLewis Allen1957Accused of MurderJoseph KaneBased on his 1952 novel Vanity Row1959The HangmanMichael CurtizUncredited1960September StormByron Haskin1961The LawbreakersJoseph M. Newman1962Sergeants ThreeJohn Sturges1963The Great EscapeFour for TexasRobert AldrichUncredited1968Ice Station ZebraJohn SturgesUncredited1969StilettoBernard L. KowalskiUncredited
Television +YearTitleNotes1955Screen Directors PlayhouseEpisode: "Rookie of the Year"1956Studio 57Episode: "Deadline"195977 Sunset StripEpisode: "Thanks for Tomorrow"1960The UntouchablesEpisode: "The Big Squeeze"Naked CityEpisode: "Debt of Honor"1961The Asphalt JungleEpisode: "The Lady and the Lawyer"1965The Legend of Jesse JamesEpisode: "Manhunt"1967Off to See the WizardEpisode: "Hell Cats"The VirginianEpisode: "The Fortress"1968BonanzaEpisode: "The Stronghold"
Adaptations of Burnett's works
Film +YearTitleSource materialRef.1930Little CaesarLittle Caesar1931Iron ManIron Man1932Law and OrderSaint Johnson1934Dark HazardDark Hazard1935The Whole Town's Talking"Jail Breaker"Dr. Socrates"Dr. Socrates"193636 Hours to Kill"Across the Aisle"1937Wine, Women and HorsesDark HazardWild West DaysSaint JohnsonSome Blondes Are DangerousIron Man1939King of the Underworld"Dr. Socrates"1940Dark CommandThe Dark Command: A Kansas IliadLaw and OrderSaint Johnson1941High SierraHigh SierraDance HallThe Giant Swing1942Bullet Scars"Dr. Socrates"1946Nobody Lives ForeverNobody Lives Forever1948Yellow SkyStretch Dawson1950Colorado TerritoryHigh SierraThe Asphalt JungleThe Asphalt Jungle1951Iron ManIron Man1953Law and OrderSaint JohnsonArrowheadAdobe Walls1955Captain LightfootCaptain Lightfoot1956I Died a Thousand TimesHigh Sierra1957Accused of MurderVanity Row1958The BadlandersThe Asphalt Jungle1963CairoThe Asphalt Jungle1967The JackalsStretch Dawson1972Cool BreezeThe Asphalt Jungle
Television +YearTitleSource materialRef.1961The Asphalt JungleThe Asphalt Jungle
Notes
References
External links
W.R. Burnett bibliography W.R. Burnett (bio), by John Strausbaugh, at The Chiseler W.R. Burnett at detnovel.com “'Pretty Big Once': W. R. Burnett’s Cynical Americana” by Cullen Gallagher, at the Los Angeles Review of Books