Mickey Spillane, whose Mike Hammer private-eye novels generated a post-World War II storm of literary criticism for their sex and violence and made him one of the best-selling authors of the 20th Century, died Monday. He was 88.
Mr. Spillane, who lived more than 50 years in the South Carolina coastal fishing village of Murrells Inlet, died “peacefully at his house with his family,” said Brian Edgerton of Goldfinch Funeral Home. The cause of death was not disclosed.
A former comic-book writer and Army Air Forces veteran, the Brooklyn-born Mr. Spillane arrived on the literary scene in 1947 with the publication of his first novel, “I, the Jury,” which introduced his tough-guy New York City private detective.
With his wartime best friend having been found murdered as the novel opens, Hammer vows to find out who did it and let the killer have it the same way his pal got it, with “a .45 slug to the gut, just a little below the belly button.”
“I, the Jury” was blasted by the critics. Mystery authority Anthony Boucher called it a “vicious . . . glorification of force, cruelty and extra-legal methods.” And the Saturday Review magazine denounced its “lurid action, lurid characters, lurid plot, lurid finish.”
For his part, Mr. Spillane let the critical barbs roll off him like Jack Daniels over ice.
“I pay no attention to those jerks who think they’re critics,” he proclaimed in one interview. In another, he said: “I don’t give a hoot about reading reviews. What I want to read is the royalty checks.”
First published in hardback by E.P. Dutton, “I, the Jury” did not become a worldwide success until it was released as a 25-cent Signet paperback. By 1952, some 4 million copies reportedly had been sold.
Its success led to a dozen more Mike Hammer mysteries over the decades.
The stocky, 5-foot-8 writer with a bull neck and trademark crew cut had a theatrical flair for self-promotion. He played himself as a detective hired by wild animal trainer Clyde Beatty to solve a circus mystery in the 1954 film “Ring of Fear,” and he played a best-selling writer threatened with murder on a 1974 episode of “Columbo.” He also occasionally posed as Hammer on the covers of paperback editions of his mystery novels.
But Mr. Spillane achieved his greatest fame as a pop-culture icon when he spoofed himself, again outfitted in the traditional private-eye garb, in more than 110 commercials for Miller Lite beer from 1973 to 1989.
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All things Spillane
– Big numbers: Wrote 53 books, which reportedly have sold more than 200 million copies worldwide.
– More than books: His success spawned a Mike Hammer radio show, a cartoon strip (written by Mr. Spillane) and three TV series, one starring Darren McGavin in the late 1950s and two starring Stacy Keach in the 1980s and `90s.
– Kid stuff: Author of several children’s books. “The Day the Sea Rolled Back” won a Junior Literary Guild Award.
Not so tough: Contrary to his hard-boiled image, Mr. Spillane has been described as soft-spoken and articulate. “I’m actually a softie,” he said in 2004. “Tough guys get killed too early.”
Source: Los Angeles Times
