Evan Hunter

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Evan Hunter

Evan Hunter in March 2001
Pseudonym: Ed McBain, S. A. Lombino, Hunt Collins, Curt Cannon, Richard Marsten, Ezra Hannon, John Abbott
Born October 15, 1926
New York, New York
Died July 6, 2005
Weston, Connecticut
Occupation Novelist, short story writer, screenwriter
Nationality Flag of the United States American
Writing period
1951 - 2005
Genres Crime fiction, mystery fiction, science fiction
Debut works Short story: "Welcome Martians" (as S.A. Lombino) (1951)
Novel: Find The Feathered Serpent (1952)

Evan Hunter (born Salvatore Albert Lombino on October 15, 1926 – July 6, 2005), was a prolific American author and screenwriter. Though he was a successful and well-known writer using the Evan Hunter name (a name he legally adopted in 1952), he was perhaps even better known as Ed McBain, a name he used for most of his crime fiction beginning in 1956.

Contents

Evan Hunter was born and raised as Salvatore Lombino in New York City, living in East Harlem until the age of 12, at which point his family moved to the Bronx. He attended Olinville Junior High School, then Evander Childs High School before winning an Art Students League scholarship. Later, he was admitted as an art student at Cooper Union.

Lombino served in the Navy in World War II, writing several early short stories while serving aboard a destroyer in the Pacific. However, none of these stories were published until after he had established himself as an author in the 1950s.

After the war, Lombino returned to New York and studied at Hunter College, majoring in English, with minors in dramatics and education. He published a weekly column in the Hunter College newspaper as "S.A. Lombino".

While looking to start a career as a writer, Lombino took a variety of jobs, including 17 days as a teacher at Bronx Vocational High School in September 1950. This experience would later form the basis for his 1954 novel The Blackboard Jungle.

In 1951, Lombino took a job as an Executive Editor for the Scott Meredith Literary Agency, working with authors such as Arthur C. Clarke, P.G. Wodehouse, Lester del Rey, Poul Anderson, and Richard S. Prather, amongst others. The same year, made his first professional short-story sale, a science-fiction tale entitled "Welcome Martians", credited to S.A. Lombino.

Soon after his initial short-story sale, Lombino started selling stories under the pen names "Evan Hunter" and "Hunt Collins". The name "Evan Hunter" is generally believed to have been derived from two schools he attended, Evander Childs High School and Hunter College, although the author himself would never confirm that. (He did confirm that the name "Hunt Collins" was derived from Hunter College.)

Lombino legally changed his name to Evan Hunter in May 1952, after an editor told him that a novel he wrote would sell more copies if credited to "Evan Hunter" than it would if it were credited to "S.A. Lombino". Thereafter, he used the name Evan Hunter both personally and professionally.

As Evan Hunter, he wrote books such as The Blackboard Jungle (1954), Come Winter (1973), and Lizzie (1984). He wrote the screenplay of the 1963 film The Birds for Alfred Hitchcock, very loosely adapted from Daphne Du Maurier's short story. He was also set to adapt Winston Graham's novel Marnie for Hitchcock, but he and the director had a disagreement over a crucial scene, and Hunter was let go.

Hunter also wrote a great deal of crime fiction and was advised by his agents that publishing too much fiction under the Hunter by-line, or publishing any crime fiction as Evan Hunter, might weaken his literary reputation. As a consequence, during the 1950s Hunter used the pseudonyms Curt Cannon, Hunt Collins, and Richard Marsten for much of his crime fiction. His most famous pseudonym, Ed McBain, debuted in 1956 with the first novel in the 87th Precinct crime series.

Hunter himself publicly revealed in 1958 that he was McBain, but he continued to use that pseudonym for several decades—most notably for the 87th Precinct series, and for the Matthew Hope series of novels.

By about 1960, Hunter had retired the pen names of Cannon, Marsten, and Collins. From this point on, crime novels were generally attributed to McBain and other sorts of fiction to Hunter. Reprints of crime-oriented stories and novels written in the 1950s previously attributed to other psuedonyms were issued under the McBain byline. Hunter stated that the division of names allowed readers to know what to expect: McBain novels had a consistent writing style, while Hunter novels were more varied.

In 2000, a novel called Candyland appeared that was credited to both Hunter and McBain. The two-part novel opened in Hunter's psychologically-based narrative voice before switching to McBain's customary police procedural style.

Aside from McBain, Hunter used at least two other pseudonyms after 1960. The 1975 novel Doors was originally attributed to Ezra Hannon, before being reissued as a work by McBain, and the 1992 novel Scimitar was credited to John Abbott.

Hunter died of cancer of the larynx in 2005 at the age of 78 in Weston, Connecticut. He had three sons, one of whom, Richard Hunter, is considered one of the world's leading harmonica virtuosos.

The Blackboard Jungle paperback cover
The Blackboard Jungle paperback cover

One of Evan Hunter's early novels, originally published as by 'Curt Cannon,' then revised and reissued under the Ed McBain name in 2005
One of Evan Hunter's early novels, originally published as by 'Curt Cannon,' then revised and reissued under the Ed McBain name in 2005
  • The Big Fix (1952)
  • The April Robin Murders (with Craig Rice) (1958)
  • Death of a Nurse (1964) (Originally published in 1955 as Murder in the Navy by Richard Marsten)
  • The Sentries (1965)
  • Where There's Smoke (1975)
  • Doors (1975) (initially credited to Ezra Hannon, later reissued as by Ed McBain)
  • Guns (1976)
  • Another Part of the City (1986)
  • Downtown (1991)
  • Driving Lessons (2000)
  • Candyland (2000) (Credited to Evan Hunter and Ed McBain)
  • The Gutter and the Grave (2005) (revised edition of I'm Cannon - For Hire, originally published as by Curt Cannon)

  • Cop Hater (1956)
  • The Mugger (1956)
  • The Pusher (1956)
  • The Con Man (1957)
  • Killer's Choice (1957)
  • Killer's Payoff (1958)
  • Lady Killer (1958)
  • Killer's Wedge (1959)
  • 'til Death (1959)
  • King's Ransom (1959)
  • Give the Boys a Great Big Hand (1960)
  • The Heckler (1960)
  • See Them Die (1960)
  • Lady, Lady I Did It (1961)
  • The Empty Hours (1962)
  • Like Love (1962)
  • Ten Plus One (1963)
  • Ax (1964)
  • He Who Hesitates (1964)
  • Doll (1965)
  • 80 Million Eyes (1966)
  • Fuzz (1968)
  • Shotgun (1969)
  • Jigsaw (1970)
  • Hail, Hail the Gang's All Here (1971)
  • Let's Hear It for the Deaf Man (1972)
  • Sadie When She Died (1972)
  • Hail to the Chief (1973)
  • Bread (1974)
  • Blood Relatives (1975)
  • So Long as You Both Shall Live (1976)
  • Long Time No See (1977)
  • Calypso (1979)
  • Ghosts (1980)
  • Heat (1981)
  • Ice (1983)
  • Lightning (1984)
  • Eight Black Horses (1985)
  • Poison (1987)
  • Tricks (1987)
  • McBain's Ladies (Short Stories) (1988)
  • Lullaby (1989)
  • Vespers (1990)
  • Widows (1991)
  • McBain's Ladies, Too (Short Stories) (1992)
  • Kiss (1992)
  • Mischief (1993)
  • And All Through the House (1994)
  • Romance (1995)
  • Nocturne (1997)
  • The Big Bad City (1999)
  • The Last Dance (2000)
  • Money, Money, Money (2001)
  • Fat Ollie's Book (2002)
  • The Frumious Bandersnatch (2003)
  • Hark! (2004)
  • Fiddlers (2005)

  • Alice in Jeopardy (2005)
  • Becca in Jeopardy (Near completion at the time of Hunter's death. Completion by a third party and subsequent publication still undetermined)

(Hunter has acknowledged that the name Richard Marsten was derived from the names of his sons Richard, Mark, and Ted.)

  • Murder in the Navy (by Richard Marsten) (Republished in 1964 as Death of a Nurse by Ed McBain)

  • A Matter of Conviction (novel by Evan Hunter)
  • The Remarkable Harry (children's book by Evan Hunter)
  • Killer's Wedge (87th Precinct novel by Ed McBain)
  • 'til Death (87th Precinct novel by Ed McBain)
  • King's Ransom (87th Precinct novel by Ed McBain)
  • Big Man! (by Richard Marsten) (Republished as by Ed McBain)

  • The Last Spin & Other Stories (by Evan Hunter)
  • Strangers When We Meet (screenplay by Evan Hunter)
  • Give the Boys a Great Big Hand (87th Precinct novel by Ed McBain)
  • The Heckler (87th Precinct novel by Ed McBain)
  • See Them Die (87th Precinct novel by Ed McBain)

  • The Empty Hours (87th Precinct novel by Ed McBain)
  • Like Love (87th Precinct novel by Ed McBain)

  • Buddwing (novel by Evan Hunter)
  • The Easter Man (play by Evan Hunter)
  • Death of a Nurse (novel by Ed McBain) (Originally published in 1955 as Murder in the Navy by Richard Marsten)
  • Ax (87th Precinct novel by Ed McBain)
  • He Who Hesitates (87th Precinct novel by Ed McBain)

  • Me And Mr. Stenner (children's book by Evan Hunter)
  • The Sentries (novel by Ed McBain)
  • Doll (87th Precinct novel by Ed McBain)

  • The Paper Dragon (novel by Evan Hunter)
  • 80 Million Eyes (87th Precinct novel by Ed McBain)

  • Sons (novel by Evan Hunter)
  • The Conjuror (play by Evan Hunter)
  • Shotgun (87th Precinct novel by Ed McBain)

  • Jigsaw (87th Precinct novel by Ed McBain)

  • Come Winter (novel by Evan Hunter)
  • Hail to the Chief (87th Precinct novel by Ed McBain)

  • Streets Of Gold (novel by Evan Hunter)
  • Bread (87th Precinct novel by Ed McBain)

  • Where There's Smoke (novel by Ed McBain)
  • Doors (novel by Ed McBain) (initially credited to Ezra Hannon, later reissued as by Ed McBain)
  • Blood Relatives (87th Precinct novel by Ed McBain)
  • Doors (novel) (by Ezra Hannon)

  • Long Time No See (87th Precinct novel by Ed McBain)

  • Poison (87th Precinct novel by Ed McBain)
  • Tricks (87th Precinct novel by Ed McBain)
  • Puss in Boots (novel) (novel by Ed McBain)

  • Lullaby (87th Precinct novel by Ed McBain)

  • Downtown (novel by Ed McBain)
  • Widows (87th Precinct novel by Ed McBain)

  • McBain's Ladies, Too (87th Precinct short stories by Ed McBain)
  • Kiss (87th Precinct novel by Ed McBain)
  • Mary, Mary (novel) (novel by Evan Hunter)
  • Scimitar (novel) (by John Abbott)

  • Mischief (87th Precinct novel by Ed McBain)

  • Romance (87th Precinct novel by Ed McBain)

  • Me & Hitch! (autobiographical by Evan Hunter)
  • Nocturne (87th Precinct novel by Ed McBain)

  • The Big Bad City (87th Precinct novel by Ed McBain)

  • Money, Money, Money (87th Precinct novel by Ed McBain)

  • The Frumious Bandersnatch (87th Precinct novel by Ed McBain)

  • Hark! (87th Precinct novel by Ed McBain)

  • Let's Talk (autobiographical by Evan Hunter)
  • Fiddlers (87th Precinct novel by Ed McBain)
  • The Gutter and the Grave (novel by Ed McBain) (revised edition of I'm Cannon - For Hire, originally published as by Curt Cannon)
  • Alice in Jeopardy (novel by Ed McBain)
  • Becca in Jeopardy (Near completion at the time of Hunter's death. Completion by a third party and subsequent publication still undetermined)

Persondata
NAME Hunter, Evan
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Lombino, Salvatore Albert (birth name); McBain, Ed (pseudonym); Collins, Hunt (pseudonym); Cannon, Curt (pseudonym); Marsten, Richard (pseudonym); Hannon, Ezra (pseudonym); Abbott, John (pseudonym)
SHORT DESCRIPTION Crime fiction writer, screenwriter
DATE OF BIRTH October 15, 1926
PLACE OF BIRTH New York, New York
DATE OF DEATH July 6, 2005
PLACE OF DEATH Weston, Connecticut
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evan_Hunter"
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