Carl Metcalfe Fick (September 23, 1918 – February 23, 1990) was an American documentary film director and author. He was best known for the

Cannes Cannes ( , , ; oc, Canas) is a city located on the French Riviera. It is a commune located in the Alpes-Maritimes department, and host city of the annual Cannes Film Festival, Midem, and Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity. The ci ...

award-winning short docudrama ''

A Day in the Death of Donny B ''A Day in the Death of Donny B'' is a 1969 American short docudrama written and directed by Carl Fick and shot in cinéma-vérité style. Mostly considered an anti-drug film, it was made for the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Adminis ...

'' (1969), as well as his novels ''The Danziger Transcript'' (1971) and ''A Disturbance in Paris'' (1982). He also co-authored and ghost wrote ''From Mexico with Death'' (1977) with Jose Luis Guzman.

Early life

Fick was born in

Evanston, Illinois Evanston ( ) is a city, suburb of Chicago. Located in Cook County, Illinois, Cook County, Illinois, United States, it is situated on the North Shore (Chicago), North Shore along Lake Michigan. Evanston is north of Chicago Loop, Downtown Chicago, ...

, in September 1918. He attended

Cornell University Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to ...

, graduating in 1940 with a Bachelor of Arts degree. While an undergraduate, he wrote a weekly column for ''The Trumansburg Leader'' newspaper. In 1941, he married Shirley Stevens Stuart in Bronxville, New York. After graduating, he went to work for ''

Collier's ''Collier's'' was an American general interest magazine founded in 1888 by Peter F. Collier, Peter Fenelon Collier. It was launched as ''Collier's Once a Week'', then renamed in 1895 as ''Collier's Weekly: An Illustrated Journal'', shortened i ...

'' magazine as a staff writer. His career was interrupted when the United States entered World War II, and Fick went to serve in England with the U.S. Army Air Forces.

Career as a filmmaker

After the war ended, Fick returned to the States and became involved in filmmaking, in addition to continuing to write for magazines. He wrote scripts for several television and film productions, including a conversion of the

Whit Masterson Whit Masterson was a pen name for a partnership of two American authors, Robert Allison Wade (June 8, 1920 – September 30, 2012) and H. Bill Miller (May 11, 1920 – August 21, 1961). The two also wrote under several other pseudonyms, including Wa ...

novel, ''A Shadow in the Wild''. He produced and directed several documentary short films, including the anti-drug docudrama ''

'' in 1969, which won several awards.

Career as an author

Fick went on to write a novel, ''The Danziger Transcript'', first published in 1971. It was a commercial successful and later turned into a two-act play by Robert Bressard. His last novel was ''A Disturbance in Paris'' in 1982, which was met with mixed reviews from critics. Both ''The Danziger Transcript'' and ''A Disturbance in Paris'' include storylines and central characters which reflected Fick's long career in journalism and writing.

Later life and death

Fick died in

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in February 1990 at the age of 71. He was survived by his wife Shirley, who died in

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, in August 1998 at the age of 79.Shirley Stuart Fick obituary
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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fick, Carl 1918 births 1990 deaths Artists from Evanston, Illinois Cornell University alumni Film directors from Illinois Writers from Evanston, Illinois United States Army Air Forces personnel of World War II