Elmore Leonard, a titan in TV, literature and film alike, has passed away at the age of 87. According to Variety the cause was complications from a stroke that the author suffered last month, and Leonard's long-time researcher Greg Sutter confirmed that he was surrounded by family when he passed away today in Detroit.
Few authors currently alive have had their works adapted as often as Leonard, who began writing Western novels in the 1950s and saw two of his stories, The Tall T and 3:10 to Yuma, adapted into films in 1957, when he was 32 years old. Eventually he transitioned into writing crime stories and novels, many of them now familiar to movie fans as screen adaptations-- Out Of Sight, Get Shorty Be Cool and Jackie Brown all began their lives as Leonard stories. A few attempts to adapt his work to television were short-lived (including Karen Sisco in 2003, based on the character played by Jennifer Lopez in Out of Sight), but FX's Justified is currently enjoying a lengthy run, all based on the character Raylan Givens, created by Leonard in the novels Pronto and Riding the Rap.
Though he was rarely a screenwriter, Leonard shaped modern film and television as much as any other writer. Celebrate his life and remarkable work today by watching any of the films based on his work, or picking up one of his incredibly readable novels. Or you can start by watching this interview with the man himself, recorded three years ago just before the premiere of Justified:
Or, for one of many great examples of how Leonard's work was translated to the screen, here's the famous trunk scene from Out of Sight-- Leonard's work was famous for its dialogue for a reason.
