Lee Earle "James" Ellroy is an American crime fiction writer and essayist. Ellroy has become known for a telegrammatic prose style in his most recent work, wherein he frequently omits connecting words and uses only short, staccato sentences, and in particular for the novels ...
Writer, Crime writer, Essayist, Screenwriter, Actor
Education
Fairfax High School
Nationality
United States of America
Spouse
Helen Knode (m. ?–2006)
Parents
Geneva Odelia Hilliker Ellroy, Armand Ellroy
Nicknames
Lee Earl "James" Elroy , Lee Earle Elroy , Dog , Lee
Awards
Edgar Grand Master Award
Nominations
Edgar Award for Best Paperback Original, Shamus Award for Best Original P.I. Paperback
Movies
L.A. Confidential, The Black Dahlia, Street Kings, Rampart
TV Shows
The Lead Sheet
Star Sign
Pisces
#
Quote
1
[on Zodiac (2007)] One of the half-dozen greatest American crime films.
2
My novel The Black Dahlia (2006) will be poorly filmed in March of next year by overrated auteur Brian De Palma. Fatuously good-looking Josh Hartnett and Scarlett Johansson will weakly star in this vehicle. The production designer is Dante Ferretti who production designed most of the great Scor-sleazy movies, so it will look very good and it will be shot by the esteemed Vilmos Zsigmond. I predict an intriguing flop...that will nevertheless sell me a shitload of books.
I am a master of fiction. I am also the greatest crime writer who ever lived. I am to the crime novel in specific what Leo Tolstoy is to the Russian novel and what Ludwig van Beethoven is to music.
5
I'm happy for the money. I'm happy for the exposure... Every once in a while there's lightning in a bottle like with 'L.A. Confidential (1997)' so we'll see what happens with The Black Dahlia (2006). Even bad movies create substantial readership for your books.
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Fact
1
A crime novelist. Fellow crime novelist Robert Crais must be a fan of Ellroy because he name-checks him in his novel, The Sentry.
2
During a 2005 book tour, Ellroy predicted that the film adaptation of his novel, The Black Dahlia, would be "an intriguing flop". The film was a box office failure.
3
In an article for the UK magazine Neon, Ellroy listed these as his ten favorite crime movies: L.A. Confidential (1997), The Godfather: Part II (1974), The Prowler (1951), Crime Wave (1954), Odds Against Tomorrow (1959), The Killing (1956), Plunder Road (1957), The Lineup (1958), 711 Ocean Drive (1950), Vertigo (1958).
4
In an E-pinion article on Empire Online, James Ellroy listed these as his Top 10 favorite films: Vertigo (1958), The Godfather: Part II (1974), The Prowler (1951), The Lineup (1958), The Big Knife (1955), Odds Against Tomorrow (1959), Sunset Boulevard (1950), Double Indemnity (1944), Out of the Past (1947), 711 Ocean Drive (1950).
5
Was asked by his editor to shorten his novel "White Jazz" from 900 pages to 350. Rather than removing sub-plots, Ellroy achieved this by eliminating verbs, creating a unique style of prose.
6
Wrote several scripts that never got made. Among others: White Heat, the remake of Raoul Walsh's classic; 77, a tough police drama set in South Central dealing with the SLA shootout with SWAT in the seventies; White Jazz, an adaptation of his own crime novel; and Mr. Smith, a film noir inspired by the real-life activities of LAPD firearms expert Richard Smith.
7
His first unpublished novel was titled "L.A. Death Trap", which was later revised to give the first drafts of "Blood on the Moon", "Because the Night" and "Suicide Hill", three novels also known as the Lloyd Hopkins trilogy.
8
Is a huge supporter of the Los Angeles Police Department. He also has several friends on the force, like robbery-homicide Detective Rick Jackson and L.A. County Sheriff William Stoner.
Is an avid fan of ex-LAPD officer turned novelist Joseph Wambaugh.
11
Prior to his success, he used to work as a golf caddy at the Bel Air Country Club.
12
"The Black Dahlia" (1987) was his seventh novel. It was based on the 1947 murder of Elizabeth Short. The same case was also the basis for John Gregory Dunne's 1977 novel and later movie True Confessions (1981) with Robert De Niro and Robert Duvall ). Black Dahlia was the first novel in a series to become known as "The L.A. Quartet." "L.A. Confidential," "White Jazz," and "The Big Nowhere" are the other novels in the quartet.
13
The brutal murder of his mother, Jean Ellroy, in 1958, was the basis of his 1996 memoir "My Dark Places".
Writer
Title
Year
Status
Character
Gemstone
TV Series pre-production
Rampart
2011
written by
Sunfax Territory
2009
Short novel
Street Kings
2008
screenplay / story
The Black Dahlia
2006
novel
James Ellroy Uncensored
2005
Documentary short
L.A. Confidential
2003
TV Movie novel
L.A. Sheriff's Homicide
2003
TV Movie
Dark Blue
2002
story
Stay Clean
2002
Short novel "Killer on the Road"
Brown's Requiem
1998
novel "Brown's Requiem"
L.A. Confidential
1997
novel "L.A. Confidential"
Fallen Angels
1993
TV Series story - 1 episode
Cop
1988
novel "Blood on the Moon"
Producer
Title
Year
Status
Character
Bazaar Bizarre
2004
Documentary executive producer
Actor
Title
Year
Status
Character
Stay Clean
2002
Short
Right
Wonder Boys
2000
Wordfest Party Guest
Thanks
Title
Year
Status
Character
L.A. Confidential: Off the Record...
1998
Video documentary short special thanks
Self
Title
Year
Status
Character
Página 2
2010-2015
TV Series
Himself - Guest / Himself
La grande librairie
2010-2015
TV Series
Himself
Le grand journal de Canal+
2010-2015
TV Series documentary
Himself
Àrtic
2015
TV Series
Himself
Los Angeles: Cité du Film Noir
2015
TV Movie documentary
Himself
Late Night with Seth Meyers
2014
TV Series
Himself
A Night at the Movies: Cops & Robbers and Crime Writers
2013
TV Special documentary
Himself - Interviewee
The A to Z of Crime
2011
TV Series documentary
Himself
James Ellroy's L.A.: City of Demons
2011
TV Series documentary
Himself / Himself - Host
Café Picouly
2011
TV Series
Himself
The Cost of Living: Creating the Prowler
2011
Video short
Himself
Last Call with Carson Daly
2010
TV Series
Himself
Tavis Smiley
2010
TV Series
Himself
Ànima
2010
TV Series
Himself
Continuarà...
2010
TV Series
Himself
Efter Tio
2010
TV Series
Himself
Strada
2010
TV Series
Himself
Che tempo che fa
2010
TV Series
Himself
Allez à L.A.!
2008
TV Series documentary
Himself
Biography
2008
TV Series documentary
Himself
Mobsters
2008
TV Series
Himself - Author, 'L.A. Confidential'
A True Ensemble: The Cast of L.A. Confidential
2008
Video documentary short
Himself
Sunlight and Shadow: The Visual Style of 'L.A. Confidential'
$10 Million
