The Great Crime Writer Elmore Leonard Dies

Foxnews.com reports that Elmore Leonard, one of my favorite writers, has died. He was 87.

Famed Hollywood writer Elmore Leonard died on Tuesday after suffering a stroke on July 29. He was 87.

Best known for “Get Shorty,” “Out of Sight” and most-recently the FX series “Justified,” Leonard was surrounded by his family at the time of his death, his researcher, Gregg Sutter, told FOX411. 
"The post I dreaded to write, and you dreaded to read. Elmore passed away at 7:15 this morning from complications from his stroke. He was at home surrounded by his loving family. More to follow," Sutter posted on Facebook. 

Leonard, winner of an honorary National Book Award in 2012, first rose to fame with the release of his Western-themed novels. His works The “Tall T” and “3:10 to Yuma” were adapted into films. Among Leonard's best-known books turned into movies are “Hombre” and "Rum Punch," which was filmed as "Jackie Brown." His short stories were also turned into several films.

His millions of fans, from bellhops to Saul Bellow, made all his books since "Glitz" (1985) best-sellers.

You can read the rest of the story via the below link:

http://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/2013/08/20/elmore-leonard-dies-three-weeks-after-stroke/

FX's Crime Drama Justified Hits The Mark

I've long been a fan of crime writer Elmore Leonard and I'm also a fan of Justified, the television program based on one of Leonard's characters, U.S. Deputy Marshal Raylan Givens.

I recently reread Riding the Rap, a Leonard crime novel that features Raylan Givens, and I saw how well actor Timothy Olyphant is portraying the Givens character.

Elmore Leonard is fond of Olyphant and the TV program as well (Leonard appears in the above photo with Olyphant).

TVGuide.com published an interesting piece on Justified and offered the below: 

It's clear to the nearly four million Oly-fans who tune in to FX's adaptation of crime-novel mastermind Elmore Leonard's work each week that everybody involved is having a blast. "Elmore doesn't know how to write anything that's not cool," Olyphant raves of the Get Shorty/Be Cool/Out of Sight author. "When it really cooks, it's just a great job."

You can read the rest of the piece via the below link:

http://www.tvguide.com/News/FX-Justified-Story-1031198.aspx

You can also read my online column on Elmore Leonard via the below link:

http://pauldavisoncrime.blogspot.com/2009/05/return-to-elmoreland-elmore-leonards.html