John Weld (February 24, 1905 – June 14, 2003) was an American newspaper reporter and writer.
Weld was born in Birmingham, Alabama. He had an early career in Hollywood in the 1920s as a stunt double for
Tom Mix
Thomas Edwin Mix (born Thomas Hezikiah Mix; January 6, 1880 – October 12, 1940) was an American film actor and the star of many early Western films between 1909 and 1935. He appeared in 291 films, all but nine of which were silent films. He w ...
,
Buck Jones
Buck Jones (born Charles Frederick Gebhart; December 12, 1891 – November 30, 1942) was an American actor, known for his work in many popular Western movies. In his early film appearances, he was credited as Charles Jones.
Early life, milita ...
and other stars. He wrote about those days in his 1991 book ''Fly Away Home: Memoirs of a Hollywood Stunt Man''.
During the late 1920s Weld was a reporter for the ''
New York Herald Tribune
The ''New York Herald Tribune'' was a newspaper published between 1924 and 1966. It was created in 1924 when Ogden Mills Reid of the ''New-York Tribune'' acquired the '' New York Herald''. It was regarded as a "writer's newspaper" and competed ...
'' in Paris and the ''
New York American
:''Includes coverage of New York Journal-American and its predecessors New York Journal, The Journal, New York American and New York Evening Journal''
The ''New York Journal-American'' was a daily newspaper published in New York City from 1937 t ...
'' and ''
New York World
The ''New York World'' was a newspaper published in New York City from 1860 until 1931. The paper played a major role in the history of American newspapers. It was a leading national voice of the Democratic Party. From 1883 to 1911 under pub ...
'' in New York City.
He was married to the journalist and writer
Carol Weld from 1927 to 1932.
Among Weld's books are ''Don't You Cry for Me'', a 1940 novel based on the
Donner party
The Donner Party, sometimes called the Donner–Reed Party, was a group of American pioneers who migrated to California in a wagon train from the Midwest. Delayed by a multitude of mishaps, they spent the winter of 1846–1847 snowbound in th ...
; the autobiographical ''Young Man in Paris'' (1985); and ''September Song'', a 1998 biography of his friend, actor
.
Weld wrote screenplays for Columbia and Universal; served as director of publications
for the Ford Motor Co. in Dearborn, Michigan, and owned Ford dealerships in Laguna and San Clemente, California. He co-published the ''Laguna Beach Post'' with his second wife,
Katy.
He died in Monarch Beach, Dana Point, California.
References
Bibliography
*John Weld. Young Man in Paris. Academy Chicago Pub, 1985.
*John Weld. Fly Away Home: Memoirs of a Hollywood Stuntman. Mission Publishing Company. Santa Barbara, California, U.S.A., 1991.
*John Weld. The missionary: A novel of the early Southwest. Northwoods Press, 1981.
*John Weld. September Song. An intimate biography of Walter Huston. The Scarecrow Press, Inc., 1998.
*John Weld. The pardners: A novel of the California gold rush. Charles Scribner's Sons. New York 1941.
*John Weld. Sabbath Has No End. A Novel Of Negro Slavery. Scribner. New York, 1942.
*John Weld. Laguna, I Love You: The Best of Our Town. Fithian Press, Santa Barbara, California, U.S.A., 1996.
*John Weld. Mark Pfeiffer, M.D. Charles Scribner's Sons, New York, 1943.
*John Weld. Don't You Cry for Me. Charles Scribner's Sons, New York, 1940.
*John Weld. Gun Girl.
Robert M. McBride & Co., NY, 1932.
*John Weld. Stunt Man.
Robert M. McBride & Co., NY, 1932.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Weld, John
1905 births
2003 deaths
American male journalists
20th-century American novelists
American male novelists
Writers from Birmingham, Alabama
Journalists from Alabama
20th-century American male writers
Novelists from Alabama
20th-century American non-fiction writers
20th-century American journalists