Bernhardt J. Hurwood
Bernhardt J. Hurwood was an American writer and film editor born on July 22, 1926, in New York City. He served in the merchant marines from 1945 to 1947 before pursuing higher education at Northwestern University, where he graduated with a B.S. degree in 1949. Hurwood's career began in film editing across various American cities, and by the 1950s, he transitioned to freelance work that included writing, public relations, and scripting for animated cartoons. In 1962, he fully committed to writing, producing numerous works that often explored themes of sex and the supernatural, including horror and folklore. He authored books under several pseudonyms, such as Mallory T. Knight and D. Gunther Wilde, contributing to genres like soft-core pornography and vampire literature. Notable works include "Terror by Night," which examines the origins of vampire folklore, and "Dracutwig," which tells the story of Dracula's daughter. Hurwood also delved into the life of Edgar Allan Poe in his autobiographical fiction, "My Savage Muse." He passed away from cancer on January 23, 1987, leaving behind a distinctive body of work that reflects his varied interests and expertise.
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Subject Terms
Bernhardt J. Hurwood
Writer
- Born: July 22, 1926
- Birthplace: New York, New York
- Died: January 23, 1987
- Place of death: New York, New York
Biography
Bernhardt Jackson Hurwood was born on July 22, 1926, in New York City. His father was Abraham Hurwood, an accountant, and his mother was Jeanette Jackson Hurwood. From 1945 to 1947, he served in the merchant marines. He graduated from Northwestern University with a B.S. degree in 1949. After graduation, he worked as a film editor for production companies in Berkeley, California; Chicago; and New York City. Beginning in 1952, he spent a decade as a freelance film editor, writer, public relations agent, and the scriptwriter for almost two hundred animated cartoons.
In 1962, Hurwood devoted his full-time to writing and his book, Terror by Night, came out the following year. In addition to many books, stories, and articles under his own name, he wrote the Man from T.O.M.C.A.T. soft-core pornography thriller series and other books as Mallory T. Knight; he also used the pseudonyms Father Xavier and D. Gunther Wilde. Hurwood was an editor, translator, and expert on folklore, the occult, and erotica. Most of his books, both fiction and nonfiction, dealt in some way with either sex or the supernatural—or both.
Hurwood wrote four books—two novels and two nonfiction works--primarily about vampires. Dracutwig (1969), written as Mallory, is about Dracula’s daughter, who aspires to be a fashion model. By Blood Alone consists of conversations between a psychiatrist and a vampire who is considering suicide. Terror by Night, also known as The Vampire Papers, and The Monstrous Undead are studies of the sexual and psychological origins of vampire and werewolf folklore. A lifetime of studying Edgar Allan Poe culminated in My Savage Muse: The Story of My Life, in which Hurwood imagined what Poe’s autobiography would have resembled if Poe had written one. Hurwood died of cancer on January 23, 1987, in New York City.