Calder Willingham | |
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Born | Calder Baynard Willingham Jr. December 23, 1922 Atlanta, Georgia, United States |
Died | February 19, 1995 Laconia, New Hampshire, United States | (aged 72)
Occupation |
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Language | English |
Genre | Fiction, screenwriting, short story |
Notable works | Eternal Fire The Graduate (screenplay) Rambling Rose |
Calder Baynard Willingham Jr. (December 23, 1922 – February 19, 1995)[1] was an American novelist and screenwriter.
Before the age of 30, after three novels and a collection of short stories, The New Yorker was describing Willingham as having “fathered modern black comedy,”[2] his signature a dry, straight-faced humor, made funnier by its concealed comic intent. His work matured over six more novels, including Eternal Fire (1963), which Newsweek wrote “deserves a place among the dozen or so novels that must be mentioned if one is to speak of greatness in American fiction.”[3]
He had a significant career in cinema too, with screenplays including Paths of Glory (1957), One-Eyed Jacks (1960), The Graduate (1967) and Little Big Man (1970).