James Leo Herlihy (; February 27, 1927 – October 21, 1993) was an American

novelist A novelist is an author or writer of novels, though often novelists also write in other genres of both fiction and non-fiction. Some novelists are professional novelists, thus make a living writing novels and other fiction, while others aspire ...

playwright A playwright or dramatist is a person who writes plays. Etymology The word "play" is from Middle English pleye, from Old English plæġ, pleġa, plæġa ("play, exercise; sport, game; drama, applause"). The word "wright" is an archaic English ...

and actor. Herlihy is known for his novels ''

Midnight Cowboy ''Midnight Cowboy'' is a 1969 American drama film, based on the 1965 novel of the same name by James Leo Herlihy. The film was written by Waldo Salt, directed by John Schlesinger, and stars Dustin Hoffman and Jon Voight, with notable smaller ...

'' and '' All Fall Down'', and his play ''

Blue Denim ''Blue Denim'' is a 1959 film based on a Broadway play by writer James Leo Herlihy. It starred Carol Lynley and Warren Berlinger who reprised their stage roles. 17-year-old Brandon deWilde appeared in his first "adult" role as the male lead Arth ...

'', all of which were adapted for cinema. Other publications include '' The Season of the Witch'' and several

short stories A short story is a piece of prose fiction that typically can be read in one sitting and focuses on a self-contained incident or series of linked incidents, with the intent of evoking a single effect or mood. The short story is one of the oldest t ...

Biography

Herlihy was born into a

working-class The working class (or labouring class) comprises those engaged in manual-labour occupations or industrial work, who are remunerated via waged or salaried contracts. Working-class occupations (see also " Designation of workers by collar colou ...

family in

Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at t ...

Michigan Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and t ...

, in 1927. He was raised in Detroit and

Chillicothe, Ohio Chillicothe ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Ross County, Ohio, United States. Located along the Scioto River 45 miles (72 km) south of Columbus, Chillicothe was the first and third capital of Ohio. It is the only city in Ross Coun ...

. He enlisted with the Navy in 1945 but saw no action due to the end of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

. He attended

Black Mountain College Black Mountain College was a private liberal arts college in Black Mountain, North Carolina. It was founded in 1933 by John Andrew Rice, Theodore Dreier, and several others. The college was ideologically organized around John Dewey's educational ...

North Carolina North Carolina () is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the List of U.S. states and territories by area, 28th largest and List of states and territories of the United ...

for two years, where he studied sculpture. He then moved to

southern California Southern California (commonly shortened to SoCal) is a geographic and cultural region that generally comprises the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. It includes the Los Angeles metropolitan area, the second most populous urban ...

and attended the

Pasadena Playhouse The Pasadena Playhouse is a historic performing arts venue located 39 S. El Molino Avenue in Pasadena, California, United States. The 686-seat auditorium produces a variety of cultural and artistic events, professional shows, and community engage ...

College of the Theatre. A gay man, Herlihy was a close friend of playwright

Tennessee Williams Thomas Lanier Williams III (March 26, 1911 – February 25, 1983), known by his pen name Tennessee Williams, was an American playwright and screenwriter. Along with contemporaries Eugene O'Neill and Arthur Miller, he is considered among the thr ...

, who served as his mentor. Both spent a significant amount of time in

Key West, Florida Key West ( es, Cayo Hueso) is an island in the Straits of Florida, within the U.S. state of Florida. Together with all or parts of the separate islands of Sigsbee Park, Dredgers Key, Fleming Key, Sunset Key, and the northern part of Stock Isla ...

. Like Williams, Herlihy had lived in New York City. Apart from Key West, the primary home of Herlihy was in the Silver Lake district of

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world ...

. Herlihy committed

suicide Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Mental disorders (including depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, personality disorders, anxiety disorders), physical disorders (such as chronic fatigue syndrome), and ...

at the age of 66, after taking an overdose of

sleeping pill Hypnotic (from Greek ''Hypnos'', sleep), or soporific drugs, commonly known as sleeping pills, are a class of (and umbrella term for) psychoactive drugs whose primary function is to induce sleep (or surgical anesthesiaWhen used in anesthesi ...

s in Los Angeles.

Works

Plays he wrote include ''Streetlight Sonata'' (1950), ''Moon in Capricorn'' (1953), and ''

'' (produced on

Broadway Broadway may refer to: Theatre * Broadway Theatre (disambiguation) * Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S. ** Broadway (Manhattan), the street **Broadway Theatre (53rd Stree ...

in 1958). He directed actress

Tallulah Bankhead Tallulah Brockman Bankhead (January 31, 1902 – December 12, 1968) was an American actress. Primarily an actress of the stage, Bankhead also appeared in several prominent films including an award-winning performance in Alfred Hitchcock's '' L ...

in a touring production of his play ''Crazy October'' in 1959. Three of his one-act plays, titled collectively ''Stop, You're Killing Me'' were presented by the Theater Company of Boston in 1969. According to author Sean Egan in his biography of

James Kirkwood Jr. James Kirkwood Jr. (August 22, 1924 – April 21, 1989) was an American playwright, author and actor. In 1976 he received the Tony Award, the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Book of a Musical, and the Pulitzer Prize for Drama for the Broadway ...

, ''Ponies & Rainbows'', Herlihy co-wrote the play ''UTBU'' with Kirkwood but demanded his name be taken off the credits. Herlihy wrote three novels: '' All Fall Down'' (1960), ''

'' (1965), and '' The Season of the Witch'' (1971). His short stories were collected in ''The Sleep of Baby Filbertson and Other Stories'' (1959) and ''A Story That Ends in a Scream and Eight Others'' (1967), a collection which included plays.

Acting roles

Herlihy appeared as a guest star in "A Bunch of Lonely Pagliaccis," a 1962 episode of the TV series '' Route 66''. He acted in the movie ''

In the French Style ''In the French Style'' is a 1963 French-American romance film released by Columbia Pictures directed by Robert Parrish and stars Jean Seberg, Stanley Baker and Philippe Forquet. It was based on a short story by Irwin Shaw. Plot The young Americ ...

'' (1963) with

Jean Seberg Jean Dorothy Seberg (; ; November 13, 1938August 30, 1979) was an American actress who lived half of her life in France. Her performance in Jean-Luc Godard's 1960 film ''Breathless'' immortalized her as an icon of French New Wave cinema. Seb ...

. Herlihy also acted in

Edward Albee Edward Franklin Albee III ( ; March 12, 1928 – September 16, 2016) was an American playwright known for works such as '' The Zoo Story'' (1958), '' The Sandbox'' (1959), '' Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?'' (1962), '' A Delicate Balance'' (196 ...

's play ''

The Zoo Story ''The Zoo Story'' is a one-act play by American playwright Edward Albee. His first play, it was written in 1958 and completed in just three weeks. The play explores themes of isolation, loneliness, miscommunication as anathematization, social di ...

'' in 1963 in Boston and Paris, and in the 1981 film '' Four Friends'' directed by

Arthur Penn Arthur Hiller Penn (September 27, 1922 – September 28, 2010) was an American director and producer of film, television and theater. Closely associated with the American New Wave, Penn directed critically acclaimed films throughout the 19 ...

Tax protest

In 1968, Herlihy signed the "

Writers and Editors War Tax Protest Tax resistance, the practice of refusing to pay taxes that are considered unjust, has probably existed ever since rulers began imposing taxes on their subjects. It has been suggested that tax resistance played a significant role in the collapse of ...

" pledge, vowing to refuse tax payments as a protest against the Vietnam War. He later also became a sponsor of the War Tax Resistance project, which practiced and advocated

tax resistance Tax resistance is the refusal to pay tax because of opposition to the government that is imposing the tax, or to government policy, or as opposition to taxation in itself. Tax resistance is a form of direct action and, if in violation of the ta ...

as a form of protest against the war."A Call to War Tax Resistance" ''The Cycle'' 14 May 1970, p. 7

Bibliography

Novels

*'' All Fall Down'' (1960) *''

'' (1965) *'' The Season of the Witch'' (1971)

Plays

*''Streetlight Sonata'' (1950) *''Moon in Capricorn'' (1953) *''

'' (1958) *''Crazy October'' (1959) *''Stop, You're Killing Me: Three Short Plays'' (1969)

Collections

*''The Sleep of Baby Filbertson and Other Stories'' (1958) *''A Story That Ends with a Scream and Eight Others'' (1967)

References

External links

* * *
James Leo Herlihy
papers held b
Special Collections, University of DelawareJames Leo Herlihy letters to Edward P. Mitchell
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Special Collections, University of Delaware
*Materials related to James Leo Herlihy in th
Lyle Bonge - James Leo Herlihy correspondence
collection held b
Special Collections, University of Delaware
*Materials related to James Leo Herlihy in th
Jeffrey Bailey collection of James Leo Herlihy papers
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Special Collections, University of Delaware
{{DEFAULTSORT:Herlihy, James Leo 1927 births 1993 suicides 20th-century American novelists American male novelists American tax resisters Drug-related suicides in California Writers from Detroit LGBT dramatists and playwrights LGBT people from Michigan American gay writers American LGBT novelists American male short story writers 20th-century American dramatists and playwrights American male dramatists and playwrights 20th-century American short story writers 20th-century American male writers Novelists from Michigan Black Mountain College alumni United States Navy personnel of World War II 1993 deaths 20th-century LGBT people