Ernest Tidyman

At a glance

Born 1928-01-01; died 1984-07-14.

Known as: screenwriter, novelist, writer, and journalist. Citizenship: United States.

Listed as: human.

Who they were

Personal life Tidyman married five times. He had two sons, Ben (adopted) and Nathaniel, with his third wife Ruth Rayle Tidyman. With his fourth wife, Susan Gould, he fathered two children – Adam and Nicholas. [ 1 ] In 1982, he married former Motown soul singer Chris Clark , who had co-written the screenplay for Lady Sings the Blues (1972). [ 2 ] Death Tidyman died in 1984 in Westminster Hospital in London, England, due to a perforated ulcer and other complications. [ 3 ] [ 4 ]

Ernest Ralph Tidyman was an American author, journalist, and screenwriter, best known for his novels featuring the African-American detective John Shaft. His screenplay for the 1971 film The French Connection garnered him an Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay, among other accolades.

Early life

Early life Tidyman was born in Cleveland, Ohio , the son of Kathryn (née Kascsak) and Benjamin Ralph Tidyman, a crime reporter for The Plain Dealer . [ 1 ] He was of Hungarian and British descent. [ 2 ] He began his career as a copyboy in Cleveland when he was 14 years old, having dropped out of school in grade seven. Tidyman enlisted in the U.S. Army in 1946, serving in public relations . He worked as a journalist and crime reporter for the next two decades in a number of cities,

Path and career

Awards / honours: Writers Guild of America Award, Academy Award for Best Writing, Adapted Screenplay, and Edgar Awards.

Career Shaft and French Connection He later said about writing Shaft , "Reading black fiction, you see that the central figure is either super hero or super victim, as in [William] Styron's book . The blacks I knew were smart and sophisticated, and I thought, what about a black hero who thinks of himself as a human being, but who uses his black rage as one of his resources, along with intelligence and courage." [ 1 ] His novel Shaft was read by Philip d'Antoni,

Why this date

Ernest Tidyman appears on our July 14 calendar for 1984 as a death entry.