Frank Morrison Spillane (March 9, 1918 – July 17, 2006), better known as Mickey Spillane, was an American author of crime novels, many featuring his signature detective character, Mike Hammer. More than 225 million copies of his books have sold internationally. In 1980, Spillane was responsible for seven of the top 15 all-time best-selling fiction titles in the U.S.
I have no fans. You know what I got? Customers. And customers are your friends.
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Fact
1
On a dare from his publisher, Spillane wrote a children's novel called "The Day the Sea Rolled Back" (about two boys who find a shipwreck loaded with treasure). The book went on to win a Junior Literary Guild award. Following this success, Spillane wrote a second children's novel called "The Ship That Never Was".
2
Stopped publishing Mike Hammer novels twice in his writing career. The first break with Hammer began in 1952, following the publication of "Kiss Me, Deadly" (and coincides with Spillane's conversion to Jehovah's Witness), and ended with the publication of "The Girl Hunters" in 1962. Spillane again stopped publishing Mike Hammer novels in 1970 after the publication of "Survival...Zero!" He did not release another Mike Hammer novel until 1989's "The Killing Man.".
3
Named the main character in his last crime novel, "Dead Street" (2007), after his close friend Jack Stang. The two had been friends since the 1940s, and appeared in the film Ring of Fear (1954) together. Spillane had even hoped that Stang would play Mike Hammer in a film, and financed a screen test for Stang in the 1950s.
4
According to the press materials for "Dead Street" (his final crime novel), Spillane had worked on the book for more than 5 years before its publication. However, according to Spillane's friend and writing partner Max Allan Collins, Spillane may have worked on "Dead Street" on and off for as long as 20 years. Spillane also had hoped that "Dead Street" would be adapted as a film, and felt the main character (Jack Stang, a retired cop) would make a good role for an aging actor. Spillane had hoped that Stang would be played by Charles Bronson, and that his love interest would be played by Lee Meredith (which is a good indicator of how long Spillane had worked on the book).
5
He referred to his books as "the chewing gum of American literature". He said he wrote when he needed money.
6
Biography/bibliography in: "Contemporary Authors". New Revision Series, Vol. 125, pp. 361-366. Farmington Hills, MI: Gale, 2004.
7
The house where he lived for 35 years was destroyed by the winds of Hurricane Hugo (1989).
8
Also worked as a circus performer, allowing himself to be shot out of a cannon in the 1950s.
9
Became a Jehovah's Witness in 1951.
10
Grew up in Elizabeth, New Jersey and attended Fort Hays College in Kansas, where he was a standout swimmer before beginning his career writing for magazines.
11
Reportedly, Spillane needed quick cash to buy some land for a house in 1946, so he wrote detective novel "I, The Jury" in less than a month. Although he was a professional writer for magazines, "I, The Jury" was his first novel. It sold over three million copies and made Spillane a celebrity due to his frank combination of sex and violence. He went on to write several more novels with his main character from "I, The Jury", hard living detective Mike Hammer. Several actors have played Hammer over the years in the movies and on television. Spillane even portrayed Hammer himself in The Girl Hunters (1963) and parodied his own image in some funny Miller Lite beer commercials in the 1970s.
Writer
Title
Year
Status
Character
I, the Jury
1953
novel
Mike Hammer, Private Eye
1997-1998
TV Series characters - 26 episodes
Fallen Angels
1995
TV Series based on a short story by - 1 episode
Come Die with Me: A Mickey Spillane's Mike Hammer Mystery
$700,000
