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'''Cornell George Hopley Woolrich''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|w|ʊ|l|r|ɪ|tʃ}} {{Respell|WUUL|ritch}}; December 4, 1903 – September 25, 1968) was an American novelist and short story writer. He sometimes used the [[pseudonyms]] '''William Irish''' and '''George Hopley'''.
'''Cornell George Hopley Woolrich''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|w|ʊ|l|r|ɪ|tʃ}} {{Respell|WUUL|ritch}}; December 4, 1903 – September 25, 1968) was an American novelist and short story writer. He sometimes used the [[pseudonyms]] '''William Irish''' and '''George Hopley'''.


His biographer, Francis Nevins Jr., rated Woolrich the fourth best [[Crime fiction|crime writer]] of his day, behind [[Dashiell Hammett]], [[Erle Stanley Gardner]] and [[Raymond Chandler]].
His biographer, Francis Nevins Jr., rated Woolrich the fourth best [[Crime fiction|crime writer]] of his day, behind [[Dashiell Hammett]], [[Erle Stanley Gardner]] and [[Raymond Chandler]].{{cn|date=October 2023}}


==Biography==
==Biography==
Woolrich was born in [[New York City]]. His parents separated when he was young, and he lived for a time in [[Mexico]] with his father before returning to New York to live with his mother, Claire Attalie Woolrich.<ref>{{cite magazine | url=http://www.time.com/time/columnist/corliss/article/0,9565,557218,00.html | magazine=Time | title=That Old Feeling: Woolrich's World | first=Richard | last=Corliss | date=8 December 2003 | access-date=25 July 2010 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100811185250/http://www.time.com/time/columnist/corliss/article/0,9565,557218,00.html | archive-date=11 August 2010 | url-status=dead | df=dmy-all }}</ref>
Woolrich was born in [[New York City]]. His parents separated when he was young, and he lived for a time in [[Mexico]] with his father before returning to New York to live with his mother, Claire Attalie Woolrich.<ref>{{cite magazine | url=http://www.time.com/time/columnist/corliss/article/0,9565,557218,00.html | magazine=Time | title=That Old Feeling: Woolrich's World | first=Richard | last=Corliss | date=8 December 2003 | access-date=25 July 2010 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100811185250/http://www.time.com/time/columnist/corliss/article/0,9565,557218,00.html | archive-date=11 August 2010 | url-status=dead | df=dmy-all }}</ref>


He attended [[Columbia University]] but left in 1926 without graduating when his first novel, ''Cover Charge'', was published.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2020-05-07 |title=Take Five with Charles Ardai '91 |url=https://www.college.columbia.edu/cct/latest/take-five/take-five-charles-ardai-91 |access-date=2022-05-01 |website=Columbia College Today |language=en}}</ref><ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last1=Columbia College (Columbia University). Office of Alumni Affairs and Development |url=http://archive.org/details/ldpd_12981092_023 |title=Columbia College today |last2=Columbia College (Columbia University) |date=1981 |publisher=New York: Columbia College, Office of Alumni Affairs and Development |others=Columbia University Libraries}}</ref> As [[Eddie Duggan]] observes, "Woolrich enrolled at New York's Columbia University in 1921 where he spent a relatively undistinguished year until he was taken ill and was laid up for some weeks. It was during this illness (a ''Rear-Window''-like confinement involving a gangrenous foot, according to one version of the story) that Woolrich started writing, producing ''Cover Charge'', which was published in 1926."<ref name=ED>[[Eddie Duggan]] [https://www.academia.edu/6778750/_Writing_in_the_Darkness_The_World_of_Cornell_Woolrich_._Crimetime_1999_ (1999) 'Writing in the darkness: the world of Cornell Woolrich' ''CrimeTime'' 2.6 pp. 113–126.]</ref> ''Cover Charge'' was one of his [[Jazz Age]] novels inspired by the work of [[F. Scott Fitzgerald]]. A second short story, ''Children of the Ritz'', won Woolrich the first prize of $10,000 the following year in a competition organised by College Humor and First National Pictures; this led to his working as a screenwriter in Hollywood for First National Pictures. While in Hollywood, Woolrich explored his sexuality,<ref name="glbtq">{{Cite news |url=http://www.glbtq.com/literature/woolrich_c.html |title=Woolrich, Cornell |periodical=[[glbtq.com]] |access-date=2007-08-20 |year=2003 |last=Krinsky |first=Charles |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070814195306/http://www.glbtq.com/literature/woolrich_c.html |archive-date=2007-08-14 }}</ref> apparently engaging in what [[Frances M. Nevins]] Jr. describes as "promiscuous and clandestine homosexual activity" and by marrying Violet Virginia Blackton, the 21-year-old daughter of [[J. Stuart Blackton]], one of the founders of the [[Vitagraph]] studio. Failing in both his attempt at marriage and at establishing a career as a screenwriter (the unconsummated marriage was annulled in 1933; Woolrich garnered no screen credits), Woolrich sought to resume his life as a novelist:
He attended [[Columbia University]] but left in 1926 without graduating when his first novel, ''Cover Charge'', was published.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2020-05-07 |title=Take Five with Charles Ardai '91 |url=https://www.college.columbia.edu/cct/latest/take-five/take-five-charles-ardai-91 |access-date=2022-05-01 |website=Columbia College Today |language=en}}</ref><ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last1=Columbia College (Columbia University). Office of Alumni Affairs and Development |url=http://archive.org/details/ldpd_12981092_023 |title=Columbia College today |last2=Columbia College (Columbia University) |date=1981 |publisher=New York: Columbia College, Office of Alumni Affairs and Development |others=Columbia University Libraries}}</ref> As [[Eddie Duggan]] observes, "Woolrich enrolled at New York's Columbia University in 1921 where he spent a relatively undistinguished year until he was taken ill and was laid up for some weeks. It was during this illness (a ''Rear Window''–like confinement involving a gangrenous foot, according to one version of the story) that Woolrich started writing, producing ''Cover Charge'', which was published in 1926."<ref name=ED>[[Eddie Duggan]] [https://www.academia.edu/6778750/_Writing_in_the_Darkness_The_World_of_Cornell_Woolrich_._Crimetime_1999_ (1999) 'Writing in the darkness: the world of Cornell Woolrich' ''CrimeTime'' 2.6 pp. 113–126.]</ref> ''Cover Charge'' was one of his [[Jazz Age]] novels inspired by the work of [[F. Scott Fitzgerald]]. A second short story, "Children of the Ritz", won Woolrich the first prize of $10,000 the following year in a competition organised by College Humor and First National Pictures; this led to his working as a screenwriter in Hollywood for First National Pictures. While in Hollywood, Woolrich explored his sexuality,<ref name="glbtq">{{Cite news |url=http://www.glbtq.com/literature/woolrich_c.html |title=Woolrich, Cornell |periodical=[[glbtq.com]] |access-date=2007-08-20 |year=2003 |last=Krinsky |first=Charles |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070814195306/http://www.glbtq.com/literature/woolrich_c.html |archive-date=2007-08-14 }}</ref> apparently engaging in what [[Francis M. Nevins|Francis M. Nevins Jr.]] describes as "promiscuous and clandestine homosexual activity" and by marrying Violet Virginia Blackton, the 21-year-old daughter of [[J. Stuart Blackton]], one of the founders of the [[Vitagraph]] studio. Failing in both his attempt at marriage and at establishing a career as a screenwriter (the unconsummated marriage was annulled in 1933; Woolrich garnered no screen credits), Woolrich sought to resume his life as a novelist:
{{quote| Although Woolrich had published six 'jazz-age' novels, concerned with the party-antics and romances of the beautiful young things on the fringes of American society, between 1926 and 1932, he was unable to establish himself as a serious writer. Perhaps because the 'jazz-age' novel was dead in the water by the 1930s when the depression had begun to take hold, Woolrich was unable to find a publisher for his seventh novel, ''I Love You, Paris'', so he literally threw away the typescript, dumped it in a dustbin, and re-invented himself as a pulp writer.<ref name=ED/>}}
{{blockquote| Although Woolrich had published six 'jazz-age' novels, concerned with the party-antics and romances of the beautiful young things on the fringes of American society, between 1926 and 1932, he was unable to establish himself as a serious writer. Perhaps because the 'jazz-age' novel was dead in the water by the 1930s when the [[Great Depression|Depression]] had begun to take hold, Woolrich was unable to find a publisher for his seventh novel, ''I Love You, Paris'', so he literally threw away the typescript, dumped it in a dustbin, and re-invented himself as a pulp writer.<ref name=ED/>}}


[[File:Black Mask May 1937.jpg|thumb|May 1937 issue of ''[[Black Mask (magazine)|Black Mask]]'' magazine, featuring Woolrich as the lead writer]]When he turned to pulp and [[detective fiction]], Woolrich's output was so prolific his work was often published under one of his many pseudonyms.<ref name=ED/> For example, "William Irish" was the byline in ''Dime Detective Magazine'' (February 1942) on his 1942 story "It Had to Be Murder", source of the 1954 [[Alfred Hitchcock]] movie ''[[Rear Window]]'' and itself based on H.G. Wells' short story "Through a Window". [[François Truffaut]] filmed Woolrich's ''[[The Bride Wore Black (novel)|The Bride Wore Black]]'' and ''Waltz into Darkness'' in 1968 and 1969, respectively, the latter as ''[[Mississippi Mermaid]]''. Ownership of the copyright in Woolrich's original story "It Had to Be Murder" and its use for ''Rear Window'' was litigated before the [[United States Supreme Court|US Supreme Court]] in ''[[Stewart v. Abend]]'', 495 U.S. 207 (1990).
When he turned to pulp and [[detective fiction]], Woolrich's output was so prolific his work was often published under one of his many pseudonyms.<ref name=ED/> For example, "William Irish" was the byline in ''Dime Detective Magazine'' (February 1942) on his 1942 story "It Had to Be Murder", source of the 1954 [[Alfred Hitchcock]] movie ''[[Rear Window]]'' and itself based on H.G. Wells' short story "Through a Window". [[François Truffaut]] filmed Woolrich's ''[[The Bride Wore Black (novel)|The Bride Wore Black]]'' and ''Waltz into Darkness'' in 1968 and 1969, respectively, the latter as ''[[Mississippi Mermaid]]''. Ownership of the copyright in Woolrich's original story "It Had to Be Murder" and its use for ''Rear Window'' was litigated before the [[United States Supreme Court|US Supreme Court]] in ''[[Stewart v. Abend]]'', 495 U.S. 207 (1990).


He returned to New York where he and his mother moved into the [[Hotel Marseilles]] (Broadway and West 103rd Street on Manhattan's [[Upper West Side]]). Eddie Duggan observes that "[a]lthough his writing made him wealthy, Woolrich and his mother lived in a series of seedy hotel rooms, including the squalid Hotel Marseilles apartment building in Harlem, among a group of thieves, prostitutes and lowlifes that would not be out of place in Woolrich's dark fictional world."<ref name=ED/> Woolrich lived there until his mother's death on October 6, 1957, which prompted his move to the slightly upscale Hotel Franconia (20 West 72nd Street near Central Park).<ref>Nevins, Francis M. "Introduction," ''Tonight, Somewhere in New York''. Carroll & Graf, 2001.</ref> Duggan wrote:
He returned to New York, where he and his mother moved into the [[Hotel Marseilles]] (Broadway and West 103rd Street on Manhattan's [[Upper West Side]]). Eddie Duggan observes that "[a]lthough his writing made him wealthy, Woolrich and his mother lived in a series of seedy hotel rooms, including the squalid Hotel Marseilles apartment building in Harlem [sic], among a group of thieves, prostitutes and lowlifes that would not be out of place in Woolrich's dark fictional world."<ref name=ED/> Woolrich lived there until his mother's death on October 6, 1957, which prompted his move to the slightly more upscale Hotel Franconia (20 West 72nd Street near Central Park).<ref>Nevins, Francis M. "Introduction," ''Tonight, Somewhere in New York''. Carroll & Graf, 2001.</ref> Duggan wrote:
{{quotation | [After] Woolrich's mother died in 1957, he [went] into a sharp physical and mental decline.}}
{{blockquote | [After] Woolrich's mother died in 1957, he [went] into a sharp physical and mental decline.}}
In later years, he socialized on occasion in Manhattan bars with [[Mystery Writers of America]] colleagues and younger fans such as writer [[Ron Goulart]].<ref>Goulart, Ron: "The Ghost of Cornell Woolrich" ''The Twilight Zone Magazine'', December 1984, pp. 16–17</ref> He moved later to the Sheraton-Russell on Park Avenue and became a virtual recluse. In his 60s, with his eyesight failing, lonely, wracked by guilt over his homosexuality, tortured by self-doubt, alcoholic and a diabetic, Woolrich neglected himself to such a degree that he allowed a foot infection to become gangrenous which resulted, early in 1968, in the amputation of a leg.
In later years, he socialized on occasion in Manhattan bars with [[Mystery Writers of America]] colleagues and younger fans such as writer [[Ron Goulart]].<ref>Goulart, Ron: "The Ghost of Cornell Woolrich" ''The Twilight Zone Magazine'', December 1984, pp. 16–17</ref> He moved later to the Sheraton-Russell on Park Avenue and became a virtual recluse. In his 60s, with his eyesight failing, lonely, wracked by guilt over his homosexuality, tortured by self-doubt, alcoholic and a diabetic, Woolrich neglected himself to such a degree that he allowed a foot infection to become gangrenous which resulted, early in 1968, in the amputation of a leg.


After the amputation and a conversion to Catholicism, Woolrich returned to the Sheraton-Russell, requiring the use of a wheelchair. Some of the staff there would take Woolrich down to the lobby so he could look out on the passing traffic.
After the amputation and a conversion to Catholicism, Woolrich returned to the Sheraton-Russell, requiring the use of a wheelchair. Some of the staff there would take Woolrich down to the lobby so he could look out on the passing traffic.


Woolrich did not attend the premiere of Truffaut's film of his novel ''The Bride Wore Black'' in 1968, even though it was held in New York City. He died weighing 89 pounds and was interred with his mother in the "Shrine of Memories Mausoleum", Unit 1, Tier G, Crypt 102 at [[Ferncliff Cemetery]], [[Hartsdale, New York]].<ref>https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/4735/cornell-woolrich {{User-generated source|certain=yes|date=June 2022}}</ref>
Woolrich did not attend the premiere of Truffaut's film of his novel ''The Bride Wore Black'' in 1968, even though it was held in New York City. He died September 25, 1968.


Woolrich bequeathed his estate of about $850,000 to Columbia University to endow scholarships in his mother's memory for writing students.<ref name=":0" /> His papers are also kept at the [[Columbia University Libraries]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Cornell Woolrich papers, 1958-1964 |url=http://www.columbia.edu/cu/lweb/archival/collections/ldpd_4079630/ |access-date=2022-05-01 |website=www.columbia.edu}}</ref>
Woolrich bequeathed his estate of about $850,000 to Columbia University to endow scholarships in his mother's memory for writing students.<ref name=":0" /> His papers are also kept at the [[Columbia University Libraries]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Cornell Woolrich papers, 1958-1964 |url=http://www.columbia.edu/cu/lweb/archival/collections/ldpd_4079630/ |access-date=2022-05-01 |website=www.columbia.edu}}</ref>


==Bibliography==
==Bibliography==
Most of Woolrich's books are out of print, and new editions were slow to come out because of estate issues.{{citation needed|date=December 2020}} However, new collections of his short stories were issued in the early 1990s. As of February 3, 2020, the [http://fadedpage.com Faded Page] has seven titles available as [[EBook|ebooks]] in the [[public domain]] in Canada; these may be still under copyright elsewhere. In 2020 and 2021, Otto Penzler's "American Mystery Classics" series released new editions of ''Waltz into Darkness'' and ''The Bride Wore Black'' in both hardcover and paperback.
Most of Woolrich's books are out of print, and new editions were slow to come out because of estate issues.{{citation needed|date=December 2020}} However, new collections of his short stories were issued in the early 1990s. As of February 3, 2020, the Faded Page has seven titles available as [[EBook|ebooks]] in the [[public domain]] in Canada; these may be still under copyright elsewhere. In 2020 and 2021, [[Otto Penzler]]'s "American Mystery Classics" series released new editions of ''Waltz into Darkness'' and ''The Bride Wore Black'' in both hardcover and paperback.


Woolrich died leaving fragments of an unfinished novel, titled ''The Loser''; fragments have been published separately and also collected in ''[[Tonight, Somewhere in New York]]'' (2005).
Woolrich died leaving fragments of an unfinished novel, titled ''The Loser''; fragments have been published separately and also collected in ''[[Tonight, Somewhere in New York]]'' (2005).
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|}
|}


===Short story collections===
===Short fiction collections===
{| class="wikitable sortable"
{| class="wikitable sortable"


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|''Nightmare''
|''Nightmare''
|Cornell Woolrich
|Cornell Woolrich
|Includes both previously published & unpublished stories.
|Includes both previously published and unpublished stories.
|-
|-
|1958
|1958
|''Violence''
|''Violence''
|Cornell Woolrich
|Cornell Woolrich
|Includes both previously published & unpublished stories.
|Includes both previously published and unpublished stories.
|-
|-
|1958
|1958
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|''Angels of Darkness ''
|''Angels of Darkness ''
|Cornell Woolrich
|Cornell Woolrich
|Introduction by [[Harlan Ellison]].
|
|-
|-
|1981
|1981
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|}
|}


==Selected films based on Woolrich stories==
==Selected films based on Woolrich's fiction==
* ''[[Manhattan Love Song]]'' (1934) (novel), directed by Leonard Fields
* ''[[Manhattan Love Song]]'' (1934) (based on the novel), directed by Leonard Fields
* ''[[Convicted (1938 film)|Convicted]]'' (1938) (story ''Face Work''), directed by [[Leon Barsha]]
* ''[[Convicted (1938 film)|Convicted]]'' (1938) (based on the short story "Face Work"), directed by [[Leon Barsha]]
* ''[[Street of Chance (1942 film)|Street of Chance]]'' (1942) (novel ''The Black Curtain''), directed by [[Jack Hively]]
* ''[[Street of Chance (1942 film)|Street of Chance]]'' (1942) (based on the novel ''The Black Curtain''), directed by [[Jack Hively]]
* ''[[The Leopard Man]]'' (1943) (novel ''Black Alibi''), directed by [[Jacques Tourneur]]
* ''[[The Leopard Man]]'' (1943) (novel ''Black Alibi''), directed by [[Jacques Tourneur]]
* ''[[Phantom Lady (film)|Phantom Lady]]'' (1944) (novel), directed by [[Robert Siodmak]]
* ''[[Phantom Lady (film)|Phantom Lady]]'' (1944) (based on the novel), directed by [[Robert Siodmak]]
* ''[[The Mark of the Whistler]]'' (1944) (story ''Dormant Account''), directed by [[William Castle]]
* ''[[The Mark of the Whistler]]'' (1944) (based on the story "Dormant Account"), directed by [[William Castle]]
* ''[[Deadline at Dawn]]'' (1946) (novel), the only film directed by stage director [[Harold Clurman]]
* ''[[Deadline at Dawn]]'' (1946) (based on the novel), the only film directed by stage director [[Harold Clurman]]
* ''[[Black Angel (1946 film)|Black Angel]]'' (1946) (novel), directed by [[Roy William Neill]]
* ''[[Black Angel (1946 film)|Black Angel]]'' (1946) (based on the novel), directed by [[Roy William Neill]]
* ''[[The Chase (1946 film)|The Chase]]'' (1946) (novel ''The Black Path of Fear''). directed by [[Arthur Ripley]]
* ''[[The Chase (1946 film)|The Chase]]'' (1946) (based on the novel ''The Black Path of Fear''). directed by [[Arthur Ripley]]
* ''[[Fall Guy (1947 film)|Fall Guy]]'' (1947) (story ''Cocaine''), directed by [[Reginald Le Borg]]
* ''[[Fall Guy (1947 film)|Fall Guy]]'' (1947) (based on the story "Cocaine"), directed by [[Reginald Le Borg]]
* ''[[The Guilty (1947 film)|The Guilty]]'' (1947) (story ''He Looked Like Murder''), directed by [[John Reinhardt (director)|John Reinhardt]]
* ''[[The Guilty (1947 film)|The Guilty]]'' (1947) (based on the story "He Looked Like Murder"), directed by [[John Reinhardt (director)|John Reinhardt]]
* ''[[Fear in the Night (1947 film)|Fear in the Night]]'' (1947) (story ''Nightmare''), directed by [[Maxwell Shane]]
* ''[[Fear in the Night (1947 film)|Fear in the Night]]'' (1947) (based on the story story "Nightmare"), directed by [[Maxwell Shane]]
* ''[[The Return of the Whistler]]'' (1948) (story ''All at Once, No Alice''), directed by [[D. Ross Lederman]]
* ''[[The Return of the Whistler]]'' (1948) (based on the story "All at Once, No Alice"), directed by [[D. Ross Lederman]]
* ''[[I Wouldn't Be in Your Shoes]]'' (1948) (story), directed by [[William Nigh]]
* ''[[I Wouldn't Be in Your Shoes]]'' (1948) (based on the story), directed by [[William Nigh]]
* ''[[Night Has a Thousand Eyes]]'' (1948) (novel), directed by [[John Farrow]]
* ''[[Night Has a Thousand Eyes]]'' (1948) (based on the novel), directed by [[John Farrow]]
* ''[[The Window (1949 film)|The Window]]'' (1949) (story ''The Boy Cried Murder''), directed by [[Ted Tetzlaff]]
* ''[[The Window (1949 film)|The Window]]'' (1949) (based on the story "The Boy Cried Murder"), directed by [[Ted Tetzlaff]]
* ''[[No Man of Her Own (1950 film)|No Man of Her Own]]'' (1950) (novel ''I Married a Dead Man''), directed by [[Mitchell Leisen]]
* ''[[No Man of Her Own (1950 film)|No Man of Her Own]]'' (1950) (based on the novel ''I Married a Dead Man''), directed by [[Mitchell Leisen]]
* ''[[The Earring]]'' (1951) (story ''The Death Stone''), directed by [[León Klimovsky]]
* ''[[The Earring]]'' (1951) (based on the story "The Death Stone"), directed by [[León Klimovsky]]
* ''The Trace of Some Lips'' (1952)<ref>{{cite web|url=https://balaju.uv.mx/index.php/balaju/article/view/2552|title=The melodrama star as a noir film heroine: The Trace of Some Lips (1952)|website=Balajú, Universidad Veracruzana|date=2 August 2018|author=Ortiz, Roberto Carlos}}</ref> (story ''Collared''), directed by [[Juan Bustillo Oro]]
* ''The Trace of Some Lips'' (1952)<ref>{{cite journal|url=https://balaju.uv.mx/index.php/balaju/article/view/2552|title=The melodrama star as a noir film heroine: The Trace of Some Lips (1952)|journal=Balajú. Revista de Cultura y Comunicación de la Universidad Veracruzana|date=2 August 2018|author=Ortiz, Roberto Carlos|issue=8 |pages=69–89 |doi=10.25009/blj.v0i8.2552 |s2cid=192712997 |doi-access=free}}</ref> (based on the story "Collared"), directed by [[Juan Bustillo Oro]]
* ''If I Should Die Before I Wake'' (1952)<ref>{{cite web|url=https://intellectdiscover.com/content/journals/10.1386/shci.4.2.121_1|title=Two Takes on Gender in Argentine Film Noir|work=Studies in Hispanic Cinemas|date=May 2008|author=Thompson, Currie K}}</ref>, directed by [[Carlos Hugo Christensen]]
* ''If I Should Die Before I Wake'' (1952),<ref>{{cite journal|url=https://intellectdiscover.com/content/journals/10.1386/shci.4.2.121_1|title=Two Takes on Gender in Argentine Film Noir|journal=Studies in Hispanic Cinemas|date=May 2008|author=Thompson, Currie K|volume=4 |issue=2 |pages=121–130 |doi=10.1386/shci.4.2.121_1 }}</ref> directed by [[Carlos Hugo Christensen]]
* ''[[Don't Ever Open That Door]]'' (1952) (stories ''Somebody on the Phone'' and ''Humming Bird Comes Home'') directed by [[Carlos Hugo Christensen]]
* ''[[Don't Ever Open That Door]]'' (1952) (an [[anthology]] film based on the stories "Somebody on the Phone" and "Humming Bird Comes Home") directed by [[Carlos Hugo Christensen]]
* ''[[Rear Window]]'' (1954) (story ''It Had to Be Murder''), directed by [[Alfred Hitchcock]]
* ''[[Rear Window]]'' (1954) (based on the story "It Had to Be Murder"), directed by [[Alfred Hitchcock]]
* ''[[Obsession (1954 film)|Obsession]]'' (1954) (story ''Silent as the Grave''), directed by [[Jean Delannoy]]
* ''[[Obsession (1954 film)|Obsession]]'' (1954) (based on the story "Silent as the Grave"), directed by [[Jean Delannoy]]
* ''The Glass Eye'' (1956), directed by Antonio Santillán
* ''The Glass Eye'' (1956), directed by Antonio Santillán
* ''[[Nightmare (1956 film)|Nightmare]]'' (1956) (story), directed by [[Maxwell Shane]]
* ''[[Nightmare (1956 film)|Nightmare]]'' (1956) (based on the story), directed by [[Maxwell Shane]]
* ''[[Escapade (1957 film)|Escapade]]'' (1957) (story ''Cinderella and the Mob''), directed by [[Ralph Habib]]
* ''[[Escapade (1957 film)|Escapade]]'' (1957) (based on the story "Cinderella and the Mob"), directed by [[Ralph Habib]]
* ''[[Ah, Bomb!]]'' (1964) (story ''Adventures of a Fountain Pen''), directed by [[Kihachi Okamoto]]
* ''[[Ah, Bomb!]]'' (1964) (based on the story ''Adventures of a Fountain Pen''), directed by [[Kihachi Okamoto]]
* ''[[The Boy Cried Murder]]'' (1966) (story ''The Boy Cried Murder''), directed by [[George P. Breakston]]
* ''[[The Boy Cried Murder]]'' (1966) (based on the story ''The Boy Cried Murder''), directed by [[George P. Breakston]]
* ''[[The Bride Wore Black]]'' (1968) (novel), directed by [[François Truffaut]]
* ''[[The Bride Wore Black]]'' (1968) (based on the novel), directed by [[François Truffaut]]
* ''[[Mississippi Mermaid]] '' (1969) (novel ''Waltz into Darkness''), directed by François Truffaut
* ''[[Mississippi Mermaid]] '' (1969) (based on the novel ''Waltz into Darkness''), directed by François Truffaut
* ''[[Kati Patang]]'' (1970) (novel ''I Married a Dead Man''),<ref name=exp>{{cite news |title=Shabnam Still Gets Fan Mail|url=http://www.indianexpress.com/news/shabnam-still-gets-fan-mail/720458/0 |publisher=Indian Express |date=Dec 4, 2010 |access-date=May 7, 2013}}</ref> directed by [[Shakti Samanta]]
* ''[[Kati Patang]]'' (1970) (based on the novel ''I Married a Dead Man''),<ref name=exp>{{cite news |title=Shabnam Still Gets Fan Mail|url=http://www.indianexpress.com/news/shabnam-still-gets-fan-mail/720458/0 |publisher=Indian Express |date=Dec 4, 2010 |access-date=May 7, 2013}}</ref> directed by [[Shakti Samanta]]
* ''[[Seven Blood-Stained Orchids]]'' (1972) (novel ''Rendezvous in Black''), directed by [[Umberto Lenzi]]
* ''[[Seven Blood-Stained Orchids]]'' (1972) (based on the novel ''Rendezvous in Black''), directed by [[Umberto Lenzi]]
* ''[[You'll Never See Me Again]]'' (1973), filmed for television, directed by [[Jeannot Szwarc]]
* ''[[You'll Never See Me Again]]'' (1973), [[TV Movie]] directed by [[Jeannot Szwarc]]
* ''[[Martha (1974 film)|Martha]]'' (1974) (story ''For the Rest of Her Life''), directed by [[Rainer Werner Fassbinder]]
* ''[[Martha (1974 film)|Martha]]'' (1974) (based on the story ''For the Rest of Her Life''), directed by [[Rainer Werner Fassbinder]]
* ''Gun Moll'' (1975) (story Collared), directed by [[Giorgio Capitani]]
* ''Gun Moll'' (1975) (based on the story "Collared"), directed by [[Giorgio Capitani]]
* ''[[Union City (film)|Union City]]'' (1980) (story ''The Corpse Next Door''), directed by [[Marcus Reichert]]
* ''[[Union City (film)|Union City]]'' (1980) (based on the story "The Corpse Next Door"), directed by [[Marcus Reichert]]
* ''[[I Married a Shadow]]'' (1983) (novel ''I Married a Dead Man'')
* ''[[I Married a Shadow]]'' (1983) (based on the novel ''I Married a Dead Man'')
* ''[[Cloak & Dagger (1984 film)|Cloak & Dagger]]'' (1984) (story ''The Boy Who Cried Murder''), directed by [[Richard Franklin (director)|Richard Franklin]]
* ''[[Cloak & Dagger (1984 film)|Cloak & Dagger]]'' (1984) (story "The Boy Who Cried Murder"), directed by [[Richard Franklin (director)|Richard Franklin]]
* ''[[I'm Dangerous Tonight]]'' (1990) (story ''I'm Dangerous Tonight''), directed by [[Tobe Hooper]]
* ''[[I'm Dangerous Tonight]]'' (1990) (based on the story "I'm Dangerous Tonight"), directed by [[Tobe Hooper]]
* ''[[Mrs. Winterbourne]]'' (1996) (novel ''I Married a Dead Man''), directed by [[Richard Benjamin]]
* ''[[Mrs. Winterbourne]]'' (1996) (based on the novel "I Married a Dead Man"), directed by [[Richard Benjamin]]
* ''[[Rear Window (1998 film)|Rear Window]]'' (1998) (story ''It Had to Be Murder''), directed by [[Jeff Bleckner]]
* ''[[Rear Window (1998 film)|Rear Window]]'' (1998) (based on the story "It Had to Be Murder"), directed by [[Jeff Bleckner]]
* ''[[Original Sin (2001 film)|Original Sin]]'' (2001) (novel ''Waltz into Darkness''), directed by [[Michael Cristofer]]
* ''[[Original Sin (2001 film)|Original Sin]]'' (2001) (based on the novel ''Waltz into Darkness''), directed by [[Michael Cristofer]]
* ''[[Four O'Clock (film)|Four O'Clock]]'' (2006) (story ''Three O'Clock'')
* ''[[Four O'Clock (film)|Four O'Clock]]'' (2006) (based on the story "Three O'Clock")


==References==
==References==
Line 394: Line 394:
==External links==
==External links==
* {{IMDb name|0941280|Cornell Woolrich}}
* {{IMDb name|0941280|Cornell Woolrich}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20100329212922/http://members.toast.net/woolrich/black.htm Cornell Woolrich tribute site] (archived)
* [http://www.escape-suspense.com/cornell_woolrich/ Cornell Woolrich radio adaptations]on ''[[Suspense (radio drama)|Suspense]]''
* [http://www.escape-suspense.com/cornell_woolrich/ Cornell Woolrich radio adaptations] on ''[[Suspense (radio drama)|Suspense]]''
* {{FadedPage|id=Hopley-Woolrich, Cornell George|name=Cornell Woolrich|author=yes}}
* {{FadedPage|id=Hopley-Woolrich, Cornell George|name=Cornell Woolrich|author=yes}}
* {{Librivox author |id=17880}}
* [https://findingaids.library.columbia.edu/ead//nnc-rb/ldpd_4079630 Cornell Woolrich Papers] at [[Columbia University]]'s [[Rare Book & Manuscript Library]]
* [https://findingaids.library.columbia.edu/ead//nnc-rb/ldpd_4079630 Cornell Woolrich Papers] at [[Columbia University]]'s [[Rare Book & Manuscript Library]]


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[[Category:American LGBT novelists]]
[[Category:American LGBT novelists]]
[[Category:20th-century American novelists]]
[[Category:20th-century American novelists]]
⚫
[[Category:American short story writers]]
[[Category:American male short story writers]]
[[Category:American male short story writers]]
[[Category:20th-century American short story writers]]
[[Category:20th-century American short story writers]]
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[[Category:20th-century pseudonymous writers]]
[[Category:20th-century pseudonymous writers]]
[[Category:20th-century American LGBT people]]
[[Category:20th-century American LGBT people]]
[[Category:LGBT writers with disabilities]]
⚫
[[Category:American Roman Catholics]]
[[Category:Converts to Roman Catholicism]]

Latest revision as of 15:11, 22 June 2024

Cornell Woolrich
BornCornell George Hopley Woolrich
(1903-12-04)December 4, 1903
New York City, US
DiedSeptember 25, 1968(1968-09-25) (aged 64)
New York City, US
Pen nameWilliam Irish, George Hopley
OccupationWriter (novelist)
Alma materColumbia University
Spouse
Violet Virginia Blackton
​
​
(m. 1930; ann. 1933)​
(d.1965)

Cornell George Hopley Woolrich (/ˈwʊlrɪtʃ/ WUUL-ritch; December 4, 1903 – September 25, 1968) was an American novelist and short story writer. He sometimes used the pseudonyms William Irish and George Hopley.

His biographer, Francis Nevins Jr., rated Woolrich the fourth best crime writer of his day, behind Dashiell Hammett, Erle Stanley Gardner and Raymond Chandler.[citation needed]

Biography[edit]

Woolrich was born in New York City. His parents separated when he was young, and he lived for a time in Mexico with his father before returning to New York to live with his mother, Claire Attalie Woolrich.[1]

He attended Columbia University but left in 1926 without graduating when his first novel, Cover Charge, was published.[2][3] As Eddie Duggan observes, "Woolrich enrolled at New York's Columbia University in 1921 where he spent a relatively undistinguished year until he was taken ill and was laid up for some weeks. It was during this illness (a Rear Window–like confinement involving a gangrenous foot, according to one version of the story) that Woolrich started writing, producing Cover Charge, which was published in 1926."[4] Cover Charge was one of his Jazz Age novels inspired by the work of F. Scott Fitzgerald. A second short story, "Children of the Ritz", won Woolrich the first prize of $10,000 the following year in a competition organised by College Humor and First National Pictures; this led to his working as a screenwriter in Hollywood for First National Pictures. While in Hollywood, Woolrich explored his sexuality,[5] apparently engaging in what Francis M. Nevins Jr. describes as "promiscuous and clandestine homosexual activity" and by marrying Violet Virginia Blackton, the 21-year-old daughter of J. Stuart Blackton, one of the founders of the Vitagraph studio. Failing in both his attempt at marriage and at establishing a career as a screenwriter (the unconsummated marriage was annulled in 1933; Woolrich garnered no screen credits), Woolrich sought to resume his life as a novelist:

Although Woolrich had published six 'jazz-age' novels, concerned with the party-antics and romances of the beautiful young things on the fringes of American society, between 1926 and 1932, he was unable to establish himself as a serious writer. Perhaps because the 'jazz-age' novel was dead in the water by the 1930s when the Depression had begun to take hold, Woolrich was unable to find a publisher for his seventh novel, I Love You, Paris, so he literally threw away the typescript, dumped it in a dustbin, and re-invented himself as a pulp writer.[4]

When he turned to pulp and detective fiction, Woolrich's output was so prolific his work was often published under one of his many pseudonyms.[4] For example, "William Irish" was the byline in Dime Detective Magazine (February 1942) on his 1942 story "It Had to Be Murder", source of the 1954 Alfred Hitchcock movie Rear Window and itself based on H.G. Wells' short story "Through a Window". François Truffaut filmed Woolrich's The Bride Wore Black and Waltz into Darkness in 1968 and 1969, respectively, the latter as Mississippi Mermaid. Ownership of the copyright in Woolrich's original story "It Had to Be Murder" and its use for Rear Window was litigated before the US Supreme Court in Stewart v. Abend, 495 U.S. 207 (1990).

He returned to New York, where he and his mother moved into the Hotel Marseilles (Broadway and West 103rd Street on Manhattan's Upper West Side). Eddie Duggan observes that "[a]lthough his writing made him wealthy, Woolrich and his mother lived in a series of seedy hotel rooms, including the squalid Hotel Marseilles apartment building in Harlem [sic], among a group of thieves, prostitutes and lowlifes that would not be out of place in Woolrich's dark fictional world."[4] Woolrich lived there until his mother's death on October 6, 1957, which prompted his move to the slightly more upscale Hotel Franconia (20 West 72nd Street near Central Park).[6] Duggan wrote:

[After] Woolrich's mother died in 1957, he [went] into a sharp physical and mental decline.

In later years, he socialized on occasion in Manhattan bars with Mystery Writers of America colleagues and younger fans such as writer Ron Goulart.[7] He moved later to the Sheraton-Russell on Park Avenue and became a virtual recluse. In his 60s, with his eyesight failing, lonely, wracked by guilt over his homosexuality, tortured by self-doubt, alcoholic and a diabetic, Woolrich neglected himself to such a degree that he allowed a foot infection to become gangrenous which resulted, early in 1968, in the amputation of a leg.

After the amputation and a conversion to Catholicism, Woolrich returned to the Sheraton-Russell, requiring the use of a wheelchair. Some of the staff there would take Woolrich down to the lobby so he could look out on the passing traffic.

Woolrich did not attend the premiere of Truffaut's film of his novel The Bride Wore Black in 1968, even though it was held in New York City. He died September 25, 1968.

Woolrich bequeathed his estate of about $850,000 to Columbia University to endow scholarships in his mother's memory for writing students.[3] His papers are also kept at the Columbia University Libraries.[8]

Bibliography[edit]

Most of Woolrich's books are out of print, and new editions were slow to come out because of estate issues.[citation needed] However, new collections of his short stories were issued in the early 1990s. As of February 3, 2020, the Faded Page has seven titles available as ebooks in the public domain in Canada; these may be still under copyright elsewhere. In 2020 and 2021, Otto Penzler's "American Mystery Classics" series released new editions of Waltz into Darkness and The Bride Wore Black in both hardcover and paperback.

Woolrich died leaving fragments of an unfinished novel, titled The Loser; fragments have been published separately and also collected in Tonight, Somewhere in New York (2005).

Novels[edit]

Year Title Author Credit Notes
1926 Cover Charge Cornell Woolrich
1927 Children of the Ritz Cornell Woolrich
1929 Times Square Cornell Woolrich
1930 A Young Man's Heart Cornell Woolrich
1931 The Time of Her Life Cornell Woolrich
1932 Manhattan Love Song Cornell Woolrich
1940 The Bride Wore Black Cornell Woolrich
1941 The Black Curtain Cornell Woolrich
1941 Marihuana William Irish Published in paperback only
1942 Black Alibi Cornell Woolrich
1942 Phantom Lady William Irish
1943 The Black Angel Cornell Woolrich
1944 The Black Path of Fear Cornell Woolrich
1944 Deadline at Dawn William Irish Also published as an Armed Services Edition
1945 Night Has a Thousand Eyes George Hopley
1947 Waltz Into Darkness William Irish
1948 Rendezvous in Black Cornell Woolrich
1948 I Married a Dead Man William Irish
1950 Savage Bride Cornell Woolrich Published in paperback only
1950 Fright George Hopley
1951 You'll Never See Me Again Cornell Woolrich Published in paperback only
1951 Strangler's Serenade William Irish
1952 Eyes That Watch You William Irish
1952 Bluebeard's Seventh Wife William Irish Published in paperback only
1959 Death is My Dancing Partner Cornell Woolrich Published only in paperback
1960 The Doom Stone Cornell Woolrich Published only in paperback
1987 Into the Night Cornell Woolrich (Posthumous release, manuscript completed by Lawrence Block)

Short fiction collections[edit]

Year Title Author Credit Notes
1943 I Wouldn't Be in Your Shoes William Irish Also published as an Armed Services Edition.
1944 After-Dinner Story William Irish Includes his noted 1941 novella "Marihuana". Also published as an Armed Services Edition.
1946 If I Should Die Before I Wake William Irish Published in paperback only.
1946 Borrowed Crime William Irish Published in paperback only.
1946 The Dancing Detective William Irish
1948 Dead Man Blues William Irish
1949 The Blue Ribbon William Irish
1950 Somebody on the Phone William Irish AKA Deadly Night Call
1950 Six Nights of Mystery William Irish Published in paperback only.
1956 Nightmare Cornell Woolrich Includes both previously published and unpublished stories.
1958 Violence Cornell Woolrich Includes both previously published and unpublished stories.
1958 Hotel Room Cornell Woolrich
1959 Beyond the Night Cornell Woolrich Published in paperback only.
1965 The Dark Side of Love Cornell Woolrich
1965 The Ten Faces of Cornell Woolrich Cornell Woolrich
1971 Nightwebs Cornell Woolrich
1978 Angels of Darkness Cornell Woolrich Introduction by Harlan Ellison.
1981 The Fantastic Stories of Cornell Woolrich Cornell Woolrich
1983 Four by Cornell Woolrich Cornell Woolrich
1984 Rear Window Cornell Woolrich
1985 Vampire's Honeymoon Cornell Woolrich
1985 Blind Date with Death Cornell Woolrich
1985 Darkness at Dawn Cornell Woolrich
1998 The Cornell Woolrich Omnibus Cornell Woolrich
2003 Night and Fear Cornell Woolrich
2005 Tonight Somewhere in New York Cornell Woolrich
2010 Four Novellas of Fear Cornell Woolrich
2011 Love and Night Cornell Woolrich

Selected films based on Woolrich's fiction[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ Corliss, Richard (8 December 2003). "That Old Feeling: Woolrich's World". Time. Archived from the original on 11 August 2010. Retrieved 25 July 2010.
  2. ^ "Take Five with Charles Ardai '91". Columbia College Today. 2020-05-07. Retrieved 2022-05-01.
  3. ^ a b Columbia College (Columbia University). Office of Alumni Affairs and Development; Columbia College (Columbia University) (1981). Columbia College today. Columbia University Libraries. New York: Columbia College, Office of Alumni Affairs and Development.
  4. ^ a b c d Eddie Duggan (1999) 'Writing in the darkness: the world of Cornell Woolrich' CrimeTime 2.6 pp. 113–126.
  5. ^ Krinsky, Charles (2003). "Woolrich, Cornell". glbtq.com. Archived from the original on 2007-08-14. Retrieved 2007-08-20.
  6. ^ Nevins, Francis M. "Introduction," Tonight, Somewhere in New York. Carroll & Graf, 2001.
  7. ^ Goulart, Ron: "The Ghost of Cornell Woolrich" The Twilight Zone Magazine, December 1984, pp. 16–17
  8. ^ "Cornell Woolrich papers, 1958-1964". www.columbia.edu. Retrieved 2022-05-01.
  9. ^ Ortiz, Roberto Carlos (2 August 2018). "The melodrama star as a noir film heroine: The Trace of Some Lips (1952)". Balajú. Revista de Cultura y Comunicación de la Universidad Veracruzana (8): 69–89. doi:10.25009/blj.v0i8.2552. S2CID 192712997.
  10. ^ Thompson, Currie K (May 2008). "Two Takes on Gender in Argentine Film Noir". Studies in Hispanic Cinemas. 4 (2): 121–130. doi:10.1386/shci.4.2.121_1.
  11. ^ "Shabnam Still Gets Fan Mail". Indian Express. Dec 4, 2010. Retrieved May 7, 2013.

Further reading[edit]

External links[edit]

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