Calder Willingham
Calder Willingham was an American novelist and screenwriter, born on December 23, 1922, in Atlanta, Georgia. He attended the Darlington School and later the University of Virginia after a year at The Citadel, a military college in South Carolina. Willingham's first novel, "End as a Man" (1947), garnered critical acclaim for its exploration of themes such as corruption and cruelty within a military setting, leading to a successful court defense against obscenity charges. He adapted this novel for both stage and film, with the latter being titled "The Strange One" (1957). Despite the initial success of his debut, subsequent works like "Geraldine Bradshaw" (1950) did not achieve similar recognition, though his later novel "Eternal Fire" (1963) received praise for its unique take on Southern gothic. Willingham also had a significant career in screenwriting, contributing to notable films such as "Paths of Glory" and "The Graduate," for which he earned an Academy Award nomination. He was married twice and had six children before passing away from cancer on February 19, 1995, in New Hampshire.
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Calder Willingham
- Born: December 23, 1922
- Birthplace: Atlanta, Georgia
- Died: February 19, 1995
- Place of death: Laconia, New Hampshire
Biography
Calder Willingham was born on December 23,1922, to a middle- class family in Atlanta, Georgia. He attended the Darlington School in Rome, Georgia, before becoming a cadet in South Carolina’s military college, The Citadel. After a year at The Citadel, he transferred to the University of Virginia.
His experience at The Citadel formed the basis for his first novel, End as a Man (1947), a powerful depiction of corruption, cruelty, and sexual depravity in a military college. Vanguard Press, which published the novel, successfully defended it in court against obscenity charges, and the novel became a critically praised best-seller. Willingham adapted End as a Man to the stage (pr. 1953) and then to the screen as The Strange One (1957).
Willingham later remarked that “Success is always dangerous, and early success is deadly. What I went through in writing my second book shouldn’t happen to a dog.” That second book, Geraldine Bradshaw (1950), did not generate the same sales or the same critical praise as his first novel. Willingham continued to write novels for thirty years, but he never repeated the success of End as a Man. His second and third novels offended the more prudish critics of the 1950’s without exciting the enthusiasm of more progressive critics, and his realistic style has tended to date his work for later readers. Among Willingham’s later novels, Eternal Fire (1963) won critical praise. It is a dark, erotic comedy, such an extreme expression of the Southern gothic that it can be seen as a successful parody of the genre.
Willingham was married twice. He and his first wife had a son; with his second wife, who survived him, Willingham had five children. To support his family and continue to write novels, Willingham turned to screenwriting, ironically doing some of his best work in this genre, which he did not value highly. “I do an honest job, but I write to order,” he said of his screenplays. “It’s like being a tailor.” In addition to his adaptation of his first novel, among the screenplays he worked on are director Stanley Kubrick’s Paths of Glory (1957), One-Eyed Jacks (1961) starring Marlon Brando, director Arthur Penn’s Little Big Man (1970), and an effective adaptation of his own Rambling Rose (novel, 1972; screenplay, 1991). He was nominated for an Academy Award for his screenplay for The Graduate (1967). Willingham died of cancer in New Hampshire on February 19, 1995.