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Charles Williams (U.S. author)
Encyclopedia
Charles Williams was an American
writer
of hardboiled
crime fiction
. He is regarded by critics as one of the finest suspense novelists of the 1950s and 1960s. His 1951 debut, the pulp paperback novel Hill Girl, sold over a million copies. A dozen of his books have been adapted for the screen, most popularly Dead Calm
.
. After attending school through tenth grade, in 1929 he enlisted in the US Merchant Marine
. He served for ten years before leaving to marry Lasca Foster. Having trained as a radioman during his seafaring career, Williams worked as an electronics inspector, first for RCA in Galveston, Texas, later at Puget Sound Navy Yard in Washington State through the end of World War II. He and his wife then moved to San Francisco, where he worked at Mackay Radio until the publication of his first novel, Hill Girl, in 1951. It was a great success, and Williams spent the rest of his professional career as a writer, primarily of novels, with several screenplays also to his credit. The couple changed residences frequently and apparently spent considerable time in France, where Williams's work has an excellent reputation. After the death of his wife from cancer in 1972, Williams purchased property on the California-Oregon border where he lived alone for a time in a trailer. Ultimately relocating to Los Angeles, Williams committed suicide in his apartment in the Van Nuys neighborhood in early April 1975. He was survived by a daughter, Alison. Many sources continue to repeat the false rumor that Williams died by drowning in the Gulf of Mexico or in France.
Williams's work is identified with the noir fiction subgenre of hardboiled crime writing. His 1953 novel Hell Hath No Fury—published by the defining pulp crime fiction
house, Gold Medal Books
—was the first paperback original to merit a review from renowned critic Anthony Boucher
of The New York Times
. Boucher relates Williams to two of the most famous noir fiction writers: "The striking suspense technique...may remind you of [Cornell] Woolrich
; the basic story, with its bitter blend of sex and criminality, may recall James M. Cain
. But Mr. Williams is individually himself in his sharp but unmannered prose style and in his refusal to indulge in sentimental compromises." Ed Gorman's
description of a characteristic Williams novel, Man on the Run (1958), outlines the essential elements that associate it with the noir fiction category: "a) a falsely accused man trying to elude police, b) a lonely woman as desperate in her way as the man on the run, c) enough atmospherics (night, rain, fog) to enshroud a hundred films noir
." Cultural critic Geoffrey O'Brien further details Williams's "chief characteristics":
Lee Horsley describes how Williams frequently satirizes his male protagonists' points of view, while implicitly reassessing the traditional genre figure of the femme fatale
.
Williams's novel River Girl (1951) is described by pulp fiction expert George Tuttle as a "classic example of backwoods noir...us[ing] an Erskine Caldwell
type setting to heighten the sexual overtones of the story." Many of Williams's other novels are also of this "backwoods noir" type: Hill Girl; Big City Girl; Go Home, Stranger; The Diamond Bikini; Girl Out Back; and Uncle Sagamore and His Girls. Williams also turned often, particularly late in his career, to what might be called "blue-water noir": Scorpion Reef, The Sailcloth Shroud, Aground, Dead Calm, and And The Deep Blue Sea. Woody Haut argues that Williams, like fellow pulp novelist Charles Willeford
, wrote stories fueled by an "antipathy to state power, state crimes and the creation of social conditions leading to criminal activity. Relying on wit, humor and ingenious plotting, Williams's characters constantly attempt to outwit the system."
Of Williams's twenty-two novels, sixteen were paperback originals—eleven of them Gold Medals; he is described by Gorman as "the best of all the Gold Medal writers." Pulp historian Woody Haut calls Williams the "foremost practitioner" of the style of suspense that typified American pulp literature from the mid-1950s through the early 1960s: "So prolific and accomplished a writer was Charles Williams that he single-handedly made many subsequent pulp culture novels seem like little more than parodies." Fellow hardboiled author John D. MacDonald
cites him as one of the most undeservedly neglected writers of his generation. O'Brien, singling him out as especially "overdue" for "wider appreciation," describes Williams as a stylist consistently faithful to "the narrative values which make his books so entertaining and his present neglect so inexplicable."
As of mid-2006, only three of Williams's novels are in print in the United States: River Girl, Nothing in Her Way (1953), and A Touch of Death (1954). Most of his work is currently in print in France, issued primarily by Rivages and Gallimard
's Série noire
. At present, two of the five officially released English-language movies based on his writing are available on DVD in North America: Dead Calm
(1989), directed by Phillip Noyce
and starring Nicole Kidman
, Sam Neill
, and Billy Zane
, and The Hot Spot
(1990), directed by Dennis Hopper
and starring Don Johnson
, Virginia Madsen
, and Jennifer Connelly
. In addition, the French production Vivement dimanche! (Confidentially Yours) (1983), directed by François Truffaut
and starring Fanny Ardant
and Jean-Louis Trintignant
, is currently available on US video.
Of the preceding, Williams wrote the screenplays for Don't Just Stand There! and, with Nona Tyson, The Hot Spot. He is credited as co-screenwriter on Peau de banane and L' Arme à gauche. He also wrote the screenplay to The Pink Jungle
(1968), adapting a novel by Alan Williams
(no relation), and cowrote Les Félins (Joy House) (1964), adapting a novel by Day Keene.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
writer
Writer
A writer is a person who produces literature, such as novels, short stories, plays, screenplays, poetry, or other literary art. Skilled writers are able to use language to portray ideas and images....
of hardboiled
Hardboiled
Hardboiled crime fiction is a literary style, most commonly associated with detective stories, distinguished by the unsentimental portrayal of violence and sex. The style was pioneered by Carroll John Daly in the mid-1920s, popularized by Dashiell Hammett over the course of the decade, and refined...
crime fiction
Crime fiction
Crime fiction is the literary genre that fictionalizes crimes, their detection, criminals and their motives. It is usually distinguished from mainstream fiction and other genres such as science fiction or historical fiction, but boundaries can be, and indeed are, blurred...
. He is regarded by critics as one of the finest suspense novelists of the 1950s and 1960s. His 1951 debut, the pulp paperback novel Hill Girl, sold over a million copies. A dozen of his books have been adapted for the screen, most popularly Dead Calm
Dead Calm (film)
Dead Calm is a 1989 thriller film starring Sam Neill, Nicole Kidman and Billy Zane. It was based on the 1963 novel of the same name by Charles Williams...
.
Life
Williams was born in the central Texas town of San AngeloSan Angelo, Texas
San Angelo is a city in the state of Texas. Located in West Central Texas it is the county seat of Tom Green County. As of 2010 according to the United States Census Bureau, the city had a total population of 93,200...
. After attending school through tenth grade, in 1929 he enlisted in the US Merchant Marine
United States Merchant Marine
The United States Merchant Marine refers to the fleet of U.S. civilian-owned merchant vessels, operated by either the government or the private sector, that engage in commerce or transportation of goods and services in and out of the navigable waters of the United States. The Merchant Marine is...
. He served for ten years before leaving to marry Lasca Foster. Having trained as a radioman during his seafaring career, Williams worked as an electronics inspector, first for RCA in Galveston, Texas, later at Puget Sound Navy Yard in Washington State through the end of World War II. He and his wife then moved to San Francisco, where he worked at Mackay Radio until the publication of his first novel, Hill Girl, in 1951. It was a great success, and Williams spent the rest of his professional career as a writer, primarily of novels, with several screenplays also to his credit. The couple changed residences frequently and apparently spent considerable time in France, where Williams's work has an excellent reputation. After the death of his wife from cancer in 1972, Williams purchased property on the California-Oregon border where he lived alone for a time in a trailer. Ultimately relocating to Los Angeles, Williams committed suicide in his apartment in the Van Nuys neighborhood in early April 1975. He was survived by a daughter, Alison. Many sources continue to repeat the false rumor that Williams died by drowning in the Gulf of Mexico or in France.
Literary style
Pulp magazine
Pulp magazines , also collectively known as pulp fiction, refers to inexpensive fiction magazines published from 1896 through the 1950s. The typical pulp magazine was seven inches wide by ten inches high, half an inch thick, and 128 pages long...
house, Gold Medal Books
Gold Medal Books
Gold Medal Books, launched by Fawcett Publications in 1950, is a U.S. book publisher known for introducing paperback originals, a publishing innovation at the time. Fawcett was also an independent newsstand distributor, and in 1949 the company negotiated a contract with New American Library to...
—was the first paperback original to merit a review from renowned critic Anthony Boucher
Anthony Boucher
Anthony Boucher was an American science fiction editor and author of mystery novels and short stories. He was particularly influential as an editor. Between 1942 and 1947 he acted as reviewer of mostly mystery fiction for the San Francisco Chronicle...
of The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
. Boucher relates Williams to two of the most famous noir fiction writers: "The striking suspense technique...may remind you of [Cornell] Woolrich
Cornell Woolrich
Cornell George Hopley-Woolrich was an American novelist and short story writer who sometimes wrote under the pseudonyms William Irish and George Hopley....
; the basic story, with its bitter blend of sex and criminality, may recall James M. Cain
James M. Cain
James Mallahan Cain was an American author and journalist. Although Cain himself vehemently opposed labeling, he is usually associated with the hardboiled school of American crime fiction and seen as one of the creators of the roman noir...
. But Mr. Williams is individually himself in his sharp but unmannered prose style and in his refusal to indulge in sentimental compromises." Ed Gorman's
Edward Gorman
Ed Gorman is an award-winning American author best known for his crime and mystery fiction. He wrote The Poker Club which is currently in post production for a film of the same name directed by Tim McCann....
description of a characteristic Williams novel, Man on the Run (1958), outlines the essential elements that associate it with the noir fiction category: "a) a falsely accused man trying to elude police, b) a lonely woman as desperate in her way as the man on the run, c) enough atmospherics (night, rain, fog) to enshroud a hundred films noir
Film noir
Film noir is a cinematic term used primarily to describe stylish Hollywood crime dramas, particularly those that emphasize cynical attitudes and sexual motivations. Hollywood's classic film noir period is generally regarded as extending from the early 1940s to the late 1950s...
." Cultural critic Geoffrey O'Brien further details Williams's "chief characteristics":
a powerfully evoked natural setting, revelation of character through sexual attitudes and behavior, and a conversational narrative voice that makes the flimsiest tale seem worth telling.... His narrator is generally an ordinary, curiously amoral fellow fueled by greed and lust but curiously detached from his own crimes. [A number of his books] are variations on the same serviceable plot: boy meets money, boy gets money, boy loses money. Each of them hinges on a woman, and it is in the intricacies of the man-woman relationship that Williams finds his real subject.... [O]ften the woman is both more intelligent and—even when she is a criminal—more aware of moral complexities than the affectless hero.
Lee Horsley describes how Williams frequently satirizes his male protagonists' points of view, while implicitly reassessing the traditional genre figure of the femme fatale
Femme fatale
A femme fatale is a mysterious and seductive woman whose charms ensnare her lovers in bonds of irresistible desire, often leading them into compromising, dangerous, and deadly situations. She is an archetype of literature and art...
.
Williams's novel River Girl (1951) is described by pulp fiction expert George Tuttle as a "classic example of backwoods noir...us[ing] an Erskine Caldwell
Erskine Caldwell
Erskine Preston Caldwell was an American author. His writings about poverty, racism and social problems in his native South like the novels Tobacco Road and God's Little Acre won him critical acclaim, but they also made him controversial among fellow Southerners of the time who felt he was...
type setting to heighten the sexual overtones of the story." Many of Williams's other novels are also of this "backwoods noir" type: Hill Girl; Big City Girl; Go Home, Stranger; The Diamond Bikini; Girl Out Back; and Uncle Sagamore and His Girls. Williams also turned often, particularly late in his career, to what might be called "blue-water noir": Scorpion Reef, The Sailcloth Shroud, Aground, Dead Calm, and And The Deep Blue Sea. Woody Haut argues that Williams, like fellow pulp novelist Charles Willeford
Charles Willeford
Charles Ray Willeford III was an American writer. An author of fiction, poetry, autobiography, and literary criticism, Willeford is best known for his series of novels featuring hardboiled detective Hoke Moseley. The first Hoke Moseley book, Miami Blues , is considered one of its era's most...
, wrote stories fueled by an "antipathy to state power, state crimes and the creation of social conditions leading to criminal activity. Relying on wit, humor and ingenious plotting, Williams's characters constantly attempt to outwit the system."
Historical notability
John D. MacDonald
John Dann MacDonald was an American crime and suspense novelist and short story writer.MacDonald was a prolific author of crime and suspense novels, many of them set in his adopted home of Florida...
cites him as one of the most undeservedly neglected writers of his generation. O'Brien, singling him out as especially "overdue" for "wider appreciation," describes Williams as a stylist consistently faithful to "the narrative values which make his books so entertaining and his present neglect so inexplicable."
As of mid-2006, only three of Williams's novels are in print in the United States: River Girl, Nothing in Her Way (1953), and A Touch of Death (1954). Most of his work is currently in print in France, issued primarily by Rivages and Gallimard
Éditions Gallimard
Éditions Gallimard is one of the leading French publishers of books. The Guardian has described it as having "the best backlist in the world". In 2003 it and its subsidiaries published 1418 titles....
's Série noire
Série noire
Série noire is a French publishing imprint, founded in 1945 by Marcel Duhamel. It has released a collection of crime fiction of the hardboiled detective thrillers variety published by Gallimard....
. At present, two of the five officially released English-language movies based on his writing are available on DVD in North America: Dead Calm
Dead Calm
Dead Calm is a 1963 novel by Charles F. Williams, which was the basis for the unreleased film The Deep and the later film Dead Calm .- Plot :...
(1989), directed by Phillip Noyce
Phillip Noyce
Phillip Noyce is an Australian film director.-Life and career:Noyce was born in Griffith, New South Wales, attended Barker College, Sydney, and began making short films at the age of 18, starting with Better to Reign in Hell, using his friends as the cast...
and starring Nicole Kidman
Nicole Kidman
Nicole Mary Kidman, AC is an American-born Australian actress, singer, film producer, spokesmodel, and humanitarian. After starring in a number of small Australian films and TV shows, Kidman's breakthrough was in the 1989 thriller Dead Calm...
, Sam Neill
Sam Neill
Nigel John Dermot "Sam" Neill, DCNZM, OBE is a New Zealand actor. He is well known for his starring role as paleontologist Dr Alan Grant in Jurassic Park and Jurassic Park III....
, and Billy Zane
Billy Zane
William George "Billy" Zane, Jr. is an American actor, producer and director. He is probably best known for his roles as Caledon Hockley in Titanic, The Phantom from The Phantom, John Wheeler in Twin Peaks and Mr...
, and The Hot Spot
The Hot Spot
The Hot Spot is a 1990 American drama film directed by Dennis Hopper and based on the 1952 book Hell Hath No Fury by Charles Williams. It stars Don Johnson, Virginia Madsen, and Jennifer Connelly, and features a score by Jack Nitzsche played by John Lee Hooker, Miles Davis, Taj Mahal and Roy...
(1990), directed by Dennis Hopper
Dennis Hopper
Dennis Lee Hopper was an American actor, filmmaker and artist. As a young man, Hopper became interested in acting and eventually became a student of the Actors' Studio. He made his first television appearance in 1954 and appeared in two films featuring James Dean, Rebel Without a Cause and Giant...
and starring Don Johnson
Don Johnson
Donnie Wayne "Don" Johnson is an American actor known for his work in television and film. He played the lead role of James "Sonny" Crockett in the 1980s TV cop series, Miami Vice, which led him to huge success. He also played the lead role in the 1990s cop series, Nash Bridges...
, Virginia Madsen
Virginia Madsen
Virginia Madsen is an American actress and documentary film producer. She came to fame during the 1980s, having appeared in several films aimed at a teenage audience...
, and Jennifer Connelly
Jennifer Connelly
Jennifer Lynn Connelly is an American film actress, who began her career as a child model. She appeared in magazine, newspaper and television advertising, before making her motion picture debut in the 1984 crime film Once Upon a Time in America...
. In addition, the French production Vivement dimanche! (Confidentially Yours) (1983), directed by François Truffaut
François Truffaut
François Roland Truffaut was an influential film critic and filmmaker and one of the founders of the French New Wave. In a film career lasting over a quarter of a century, he remains an icon of the French film industry. He was also a screenwriter, producer, and actor working on over twenty-five...
and starring Fanny Ardant
Fanny Ardant
Fanny Marguerite Judith Ardant is a French actress. She has appeared in more than fifty motion pictures since 1976. Ardant won the César Award for Best Actress in 1997 for her performance in Pédale douce.-Early life:...
and Jean-Louis Trintignant
Jean-Louis Trintignant
Jean-Louis Trintignant is a French actor who has enjoyed an international acclaim. He won the Best Actor Award at the 1969 Cannes Film Festival.-Career:...
, is currently available on US video.
Williams on screen
While Williams is little known by the general American audience today, between 1960 and 1990 twelve of his novels were adapted for cinema or television in the United States, France, and Australia:- All the Way – The 3rd Voice (1960); Peau de banane (Banana Peel) (1963)
- The Big Bite – Le Gros coup (1964)
- Aground – L' Arme à gauche (The Dictator's Guns) (1965)
- The Wrong Venus – Don't Just Stand There! (1968)
- Dead Calm – The Deep (1970—unfinished); Dead CalmDead Calm (film)Dead Calm is a 1989 thriller film starring Sam Neill, Nicole Kidman and Billy Zane. It was based on the 1963 novel of the same name by Charles Williams...
(1989) - The Diamond Bikini – Fantasia chez les ploucs (1971)
- Talk of the Town (uncredited) – CannonCannon (TV series)Cannon is a CBS detective television series produced by Quinn Martin which aired from March 26, 1971 to March 3, 1976.The primary protagonist was the title character, Frank Cannon, played by William Conrad....
(pilot) (1971) - The Sailcloth Shroud – The Man Who Would Not Die (aka Target in the Sun) (1975)
- The Long Saturday Night – Vivement dimanche! (Confidentially Yours) (1983)
- Man on the Run – Mieux vaut courir (1989)
- Hill Girl – La Fille des collines (1990)
- Hell Hath No Fury – The Hot SpotThe Hot SpotThe Hot Spot is a 1990 American drama film directed by Dennis Hopper and based on the 1952 book Hell Hath No Fury by Charles Williams. It stars Don Johnson, Virginia Madsen, and Jennifer Connelly, and features a score by Jack Nitzsche played by John Lee Hooker, Miles Davis, Taj Mahal and Roy...
(1990)
Of the preceding, Williams wrote the screenplays for Don't Just Stand There! and, with Nona Tyson, The Hot Spot. He is credited as co-screenwriter on Peau de banane and L' Arme à gauche. He also wrote the screenplay to The Pink Jungle
The Pink Jungle
The Pink Jungle is a 1968 film thriller starring James Garner, George Kennedy and Eva Renzi. The film was directed by Delbert Mann and written by Charles Williams, adapting the 1965 novel Snake Water by Alan Williams.-Plot:...
(1968), adapting a novel by Alan Williams
Alan Williams (novelist)
Alan Williams is an ex-foreign correspondent, novelist and writer of thrillers. He was educated at Stowe, Grenoble and Heidelberg Universities, and at King's College, Cambridge. His father was the actor and writer Emlyn Williams. His younger brother Brook was also an actor.Williams was briefly...
(no relation), and cowrote Les Félins (Joy House) (1964), adapting a novel by Day Keene.
Published
- Boucher, Anthony (1953). "Report on Criminals at Large," New York Times Book Review, November 29.
- Gorman, Ed (1998a). "Fifteen Impressions of Charles Williams," in The Big Book of Noir, ed. Ed Gorman, Lee Server, and Martin H. Greenberg (New York: Carroll & Graf), 251–254. ISBN 0-7867-0574-4
- Gorman, Ed (1998b). "The Golden Harvest: Twenty-Five-Cent Paperbacks," in The Big Book of Noir, ed. Gorman et al., 183–190.
- Gorman, Ed (1998c). "John D. MacDonald," in The Big Book of Noir, ed. Gorman et al., 209–211.
- Haut, Woody (1995). Pulp Culture: Hardboiled Fiction and the Cold War (London: Serpent's Tail). ISBN 1-85242-319-6
- Horsley, Lee (2005). Twentieth-Century Crime Fiction (Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press). ISBN 0-19-928345-1
- O'Brien, Geoffrey (1997). Hardboiled America: Lurid Paperbacks and the Masters of Noir, expanded ed. (New York: Da Capo). ISBN 0-306-80773-4
Online
- Lynskey, Ed (2004). "The High Seas of Charles Williams" well-sourced essay by mystery writer; part of Allan Guthrie's Noir Originals webzine.
- Tuttle, George (1997). "What Is Noir?" essay and chronology by published noir critic.
On the success of Hill Girl
- An article by Ed Lynskey, "Charles Williams: More Than a Slight Return", which appeared in the August 2003 issue of Allan Guthrie's Noir Originals webzine, claims that Hill Girl "sold an astonishing 2.5 million copies." This unsourced claim is almost certainly an overstatement, even if it includes foreign sales, which is not hinted at. The cover of the book's eighth Gold Medal printing, dated August 1957, states, "Now in its second million," meaning before the given printing—likely 100,000 or 200,000 copies—Hill Girl had probably sold a total of 900,000 or 1 million copies. According to the edition's front matter, the first six printings all occurred between December 1950 (though the novel is copyrighted 1951) and November 1951. The seventh took place in November 1954. That three-year gap and the one of nearly three years that preceded the eighth printing indicate a substantial slowdown in what, by any standard, are still very impressive sales. Given this publishing record, it is hard to imagine Hill Girl wound up selling even as many as 1.5 million copies through Gold Medal. There is no evidence of it ever having been put out by another American publisher. In his essay "What Is Noir?" (see above), George Tuttle, though he does not indicate the source of his figures, claims Gold Medal sales of 1,226,890 copies for Hill Girl, which is entirely plausible.
External links
- Charles Williams (III) Williams's motion picture CV; part of the IMDb website
- "Fatal Women in the Hard-Boiled Fifties" excerpt from Lee Horsley's The Noir Thriller (2001), with analysis of three Williams novels
- "The Gold Medal Corner: Charles Williams" survey by Bill Crider with bibliography by Steve Lewis, February 2005; part of Mystery*File website
- "A Philosophical Thriller: Charles Williams' Dead Calm" intriguing, highly speculative essay on the writer and novel by John Fraser, 1990/2001 (note that Fraser cites the widely circulated but incorrect story that Williams drowned himself)
- A Touch of Death excerpt from the novel: chapter 1; part of the Hard Case Crime website
- "A Touch of Death, by Charles Wiliams" review by Ed Gorman, January 29, 2006; part of Gormania weblog
- Bibliographie et filmographie de Charles Williams detailed, well-illustrated French bibliography