Sidney Sheldon, best-selling author
By way of the Toronto Star…Sidney Sheldon, best-selling author, dead at 89.
Sydney Sheldon had a prolific and award-winning career writing for theatre, movies and television, but he often proclaimed his greatest love for another creative outlet.
“Writing novels is the most fun I’ve ever had,” Sheldon once said.
The best-selling author died Tuesday at 89 of complications from pneumonia at Eisenhower Medical Center in Rancho Mirage. His wife Alexandra was by his side.
“I try to write my books so the reader can’t put them down,'’ Sheldon explained in a 1982 interview. “I try to construct them so when the reader gets to the end of a chapter, he or she has to read just one more chapter. It’s the technique of the old Saturday afternoon serial: leave the guy hanging on the edge of the cliff at the end of the chapter.'’
Sheldon mostly wrote about stalwart women who triumph in a hostile world of ruthless men. His notable novels included Rage of Angels
“I like to write about women who are talented and capable, but most important, retain their femininity,” he said. “Women have tremendous power – their femininity, because men can’t do without it.'’
Before turning to novels at the age of 50, Sheldon had a successful career writing Broadway plays and films. He won an Academy Award in 1948 for The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer, starring Cary Grant, and created long-running TV series Hart to Hart.
Speaking in 1982, Sheldon likened his writing style to that of “the old Saturday afternoon serial”.
“I try to write my books so the reader can’t put them down,” he wrote.
~~The ODDones for OurDailyDead.com
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