Elmore Leonard

Leonard, Elmore (John Elmore Leonard), 1925–, American novelist, b. New Orleans. Leonard, who is nicknamed "Dutch," began publishing Western tales in the early 1950s, the best known of which is the short novel Hombre (1961; film, 1967). His first crime novel, The Big Bounce, was published in 1969; he since has contributed numerous novels and short stories to the genre. Leonard developed a gritty realism in style and setting (often Detroit), a hard-boiled and tough-talking cast of outsider characters, and a deadpan humor that has made him one of America's top crime writers. Many of his novels have become films, frequently with his own screenplays. Among the most popular of his more than 40 books are Fifty-two Pickup (1974; film, 1984 and 1986), Stick (1983; film, 1985), LaBrava (1983), Glitz (1985), Get Shorty (1990; film, 1995), Maximum Bob (1990; television series, 1998), Rum Punch (1992), Out of Sight (1996; film, 1998), Cuba Libre (1998), Be Cool (1999; film, 2005), Tishomingo Blues (2002), Mr. Paradise (2004), The Hot Kid (2005), Road Dogs (2009), and Djibouti (2010).

See biographies by D. Geherin (1989), J. E. Devlin (1999), and P. C. Challen (2000); documentary, Elmore Leonard's Criminal Records (1991), by M. Dibb and R. Horsley.

The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2012, Columbia University Press. All rights reserved.