Mickey Spillane - Early life, Career, Death, Criticism of his work, References to Spillane in popular culture

Detective fiction writer, born in Brooklyn, New York, USA. During the late 1940s and early 1950s, under his pseudonym, he wrote a series of successful novels featuring detective Mike Hammer. His work contained elements of violence, sadism, and sexual immorality which some readers found disturbing, but his literary style and forceful main characters gained popular appeal, and the mixture translated readily to the screen. Film adaptations included The Girl Hunters (1962), in which he also acted as Hammer, and his novels were also the basis of a number of successful television series. In later books he introduced the character of Tiger Mann, and further novels included Day of the Guns (1964), The Last Cop Out (1973), The Killing Man (1989), and Black Alley (1996). He also wrote two well received books for children, The Day the Sea Rolled Back (1979) and The Ship That Never Was (1982).

Frank Morrison Spillane (March 9, 1918 – July 17, 2006), better known as Mickey Spillane, was an American author of crime novels.

Early life

Spillane was born in Brooklyn, New York, and was raised in Elizabeth, New Jersey. Among others, Spillane had written for Captain Marvel, Superman, Batman and Captain America.

The day after Pearl Harbor Day in 1941, Spillane joined the Air Corps of the United States Army. According to the Guardian, Spillane was not only a fighter pilot and instructed incoming cadets, but he claimed to work briefly as an undercover investigator for the Manhattan District Attorney's Office and, upon demobilization from the Army, he found work as a trampoline artist in a traveling circus.

Career

For a time Spillane was one of the most popular authors in the U.S., with seven titles among the ten best-selling American books of the 20th century.

The Associated Press' wrote:

Mr. Spillane, a bearish man who wrote on a manual Smith Corona, said he didn't care about reviews.

An early version of Spillane's Mike Hammer character, called Mike Danger, was submitted in a script for a detective-themed comic book. I, the Jury introduced Spillane's tough detective Mike Hammer.

Spillane also dabbled in film.

Many of the Mike Hammer novels were made into movies, including the classic film noir Kiss Me Deadly (1955) and The Girl Hunters (1963), in which Spillane himself starred. In The Girl Hunters, Spillane played his creation, Mike Hammer (one of the few occasions in film history in which an author of a popular literary hero has portrayed his own character).

Spillane also appeared in a series of commercials for Miller Lite which parodied his tough-guy image.

Spillane became a Jehovah's Witness in 1951 (NPR Interview).

Death

Mickey Spillane died July 17, 2006 at his home in Murrells Inlet, South Carolina, aged 88 from pancreatic cancer.

Criticism of his work

Literary critics hated Spillane's writing, citing high content of sex and violence. In answer to his critics, Spillane had a few terse comments:

Those big-shot writers could never dig the fact that there are more salted peanuts consumed than caviar. If the public likes you, you're good.

Russian-American author Ayn Rand publicly praised Spillane's work at a time when critics were almost uniformly hostile.

References to Spillane in popular culture

The late writer Charles Bukowski was said to have been inspired to write his 1994 novel Pulp as a parody of Spillane's style of detective novels. Avant-garde composer John Zorn wrote and released, in 1987, a twenty-five minute piece based on motifs found in Micky Spillane's work, which Zorn called Spillane. The sitcom Sledge Hammer, which ran from 1986 until 1988, was a parody of the Spillane's Mike Hammer character. In the movie Full Metal Jacket, the Drill Instructor responds to the protagonists choice to join the "Stars and Stripes Army Newspaper" with the following sentences: "You think you're Mickey Spillane? Vangelis, on the album of the same name, inclues the line in the lyrics "She came, as in the book, Mickey Spillane". I've got a full head of hair and don't wear eyeglasses”

Mickey Spillane, 2004

“ I'm the most translated writer in the world, behind Lenin, Tolstoy, Gorki and Jules Verne. And they're all dead...”

Mickey Spillane

“ I have no fans.