William Diehl, R.I.P.
Posted by: Keir
From the Los Angeles Times:
William Diehl, the bestselling author known best for “Sharky’s Machine” and “Primal Fear” - fast-paced thrillers that became hit movies - died Friday at Emory University Hospital in Atlanta. He was 81.
(I’ve warned you before that I’m an obituary reader.)
Diehl led a more interesting life than most people, and had the kind of variety in experiences that seems less likely to occur nowadays. And I always admire the late bloomers:
He had no permanent job and was on his second marriage in 1974 when he turned 50. Someone had given him a party with an ice-cream cake shaped like a typewriter, an allusion to Diehl’s long-held dream of becoming a novelist.
The cake, too pretty to eat, melted into a gooey mess, which struck Diehl as a metaphor for his life.
“I’d been working for 30 years and what did I have to show for it?” he recalled thinking when he beheld the cake.
The next day, he sold all his cameras, borrowed $5,000 from his best friend, and resolved to launch his best and final career.
He may not have achieved–or aspired to–literary greatness, but he sure entertained a hell of a lot of people.
