Viertel was best known for his novel White Hunter Black Heart, which was made into a film starring Clint Eastwood in 1990. Publicity Listings Peter died in Marbella, Spain, nineteen days following the death of his second wife, actress Deborah Kerr. A heavy drinker, Hemingway reacted to his wife's comment that Viertel's mother hosted a famous salon by commenting, "I prefer saloons to salons." Some of his war experiences found their way into the screenplay for Anatole Litvak's highly acclaimed movie Decision Before Dawn (1951). He moved to Hollywood in the mid-Twenties, where his wife, the former Salka Steuermann, acted with Garbo in the German-language version of Anna Christie (1930). Keyes wrote. Viertel's other novels included Love Lies Bleeding (1964), which chronicles the rise and fall of a Spanish bull-fighter, Bicycle on the Beach (1971) and Loser Deals (1995), and were often called "Hemingwayesque" by reviewers. Detroit, MI: Gale Research, 1996. continue to respect all commenters and create constructive debates. ("His writing had made a lasting impression on me and had influenced me not only to want to be a writer, but to yearn for a life of adventure."). Enter your email to follow new comments on this article. The Encyclopedia of Surfing, by Matt Warshaw, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2005, "Peter Viertel, 86; Novelist and Noted Screenplay Writer", "Peter Viertel, 86, Author and Screenwriter, Is Dead", Marbella, Spain, La Tribuna obituary November 6, 2007, English translation of La Tribuna obituary November 6, 2007, "The Pioneers of Surfing in the Basque Country – basquetribune", "Peter Viertel Between the Lines – letter from Director Michael Scheingraber", "Peter Viertel, 86, Author and Screenwriter, Is Dead", by Douglas Martin, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Peter_Viertel&oldid=978809204, 20th-century American dramatists and playwrights, American Marine Corps personnel of World War II, People of the Office of Strategic Services, 20th-century American non-fiction writers, Wikipedia articles with BIBSYS identifiers, Wikipedia articles with SNAC-ID identifiers, Wikipedia articles with SUDOC identifiers, Wikipedia articles with Trove identifiers, Wikipedia articles with WORLDCATID identifiers, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, This page was last edited on 17 September 2020, at 02:08. No hype, just the advice and analysis you need, Register with your social account or click here to log in. Huston then brought in Truman Capote, who decided the best thing would be to make the movie a farce. Film critic Pauline Kael wrote in 1999 that White Hunter was “still the best Hollywood novel I’ve ever come across — and it isn’t even set in Hollywood.”[6] Viertel's opinion of the finished film was tempered by his idea that Huston himself would have preferred a portrayal with more sarcasm. Viertel next adapted another Hemingway novel, The Sun Also Rises, starring Tyrone Power and Ava Gardner, whose beauty he later saluted. Biography/bibliography in: "Contemporary Authors". James Agee had written a first draft but had then suffered a heart attack. . Anonymous, Other Works In need of money to be able to continue writing his novels and to support his first wife, Jigee, Viertel turned to writing scripts for Hollywood, where he soon found himself in the orbit of John Huston, the legendary director of The Maltese Falcon (1941). During a brief spell at RKO, he worked in the producer Val Lewton's unit, and met Orson Welles, who was filming Citizen Kane. Peter Viertel, a WWII veteran whose first novel was published to glowing reviews when he was only 18, was born of parents of the European intelligentsia, refugees from Adolf Hitler's Europe. Due to the sheer scale of this comment community, we are not able to give each post In 1990 Viertel helped adapt White Hunter, Black Heart as a movie, directed by Clint Eastwood, who also starred, with Jeff Fahey playing Viertel. And Peter Viertel knew him! In 1928, his parents moved to Santa Monica, California, where Viertel grew up with his brothers, Hans and Thomas. Until a month before his death, Viertel was working on a novel and a new set of memoirs. In 1999 the critic Pauline Kael described the book as "still the best Hollywood novel I've ever come across, and it isn't even set in Hollywood". Most liked, -1) ? Varying sources show that Viertel and Jigee divorced in 1958, 1959, or were still separated but legally married upon her death in January 1960. Dear Peter. Start your Independent Premium subscription today. Peter Viertel, the novelist, memoirist and screenwriter best known for his books chronicling episodes in the lives of Ernest Hemingway and John Huston, has died. Titled Peter Viertel – Between the Lines, the film is based upon over 400 minutes of recorded interviews with him.[12]. The existing Open Comments threads will continue to exist for those who do not subscribe to Peter Viertel, a WWII veteran whose first novel was published to glowing reviews when he was only 18, was born of parents of the European intelligentsia, refugees from Adolf Hitler's Europe. His wife of 47 years was the actress Deborah Kerr. Want an ad-free experience?Subscribe to Independent Premium. Through Kerr he had two stepdaughters, Melanie and Francesca Bartley. Are you sure you want to mark this comment as inappropriate? In 1956, while on location in Biarritz for the filming of The Sun Also Rises, Viertel was so impressed by the waves that he sent for his surfboard from California and soon afterwards started Europe's first surf club.[10][11]. "I wasn't eager to get involved in a screenplay of a book whose magic was contained in the prose rather than its action," recalled Viertel, and the film, started by the director Fred Zinnemann but finished by John Sturges, was a failure, though the critic Gordon Gow praised its "brilliant screenplay, deceptively simple-seeming, but actually quite intricate". Create a commenting name to join the debate. [3] He enlisted in the United States Marine Corps as a private, but after being assigned office work in California (in his memoirs he joked he was a "Remington Raider" in reference to the typewriters they used), he applied for officer training and eventually was accepted by the OSS, the predecessor of the CIA, where his recruiters were impressed that he had already published at 19 the highly acclaimed novel The Canyon (1940), and had written a screenplay for Alfred Hitchcock, Saboteur (1942), as well as the script for The Hard Way (1943). During the Second World War he served in the South Pacific for a year as a marine, then joined the OSS (Office of Strategic Services) in Europe. 'active' : ''"> Viertel was to discover that some of his mother's guests were equally derisive of Hemingway when Salka announced that the writer was "one of Peter's new friends," Thomas Mann's wife, Katja, commented, "Huh! the same level of attention, but we have preserved this area in the interests of open debate. [1] In 1928, his parents moved to Santa Monica, California, where Viertel grew up with his brothers, Hans and Thomas. When John Huston asked Viertel to write the screenplay for We Were Strangers (1949), a film about Cuban revolutionaries, they journeyed to Havana, where Viertel introduced Huston and his wife at the time, the actress Evelyn Keyes, to Hemingway. . The novelist and screenwriter Peter Viertel, who has died aged 86, almost two weeks after the death of his wife Deborah Kerr, was probably more celebrated for the people he … The most insightful comments on all subjects 'active' : ''"> Jigee became an alcoholic and drug addict and, in a ghastly accident, burned herself to death. We had flown halfway round the world to get to him and one hour before he had left on a private plane for our camp, which was just being completed down the Congo River, about eight hours by rail and then west into the jungle by car another 40 miles and no telephone. try again, the name must be unique, Please We immediately fell in love with Havana. Most liked. The cast was a distinguished one, but, Viertel recalled, "Deborah Kerr, with her beauty, her simple and direct manner, stood out above all the others." 'active' : ''"> Viertel's first screen-writing credit was shared with Joan Harrison and Dorothy Parker on Alfred Hitchcock's masterly thriller Saboteur (1942). When his first wife died in Jan. 1960, Peter then married, View agent, publicist, legal and company contact details on IMDbPro. You can find our Community Guidelines in full here. It premiered in New York City in 1948, and was turned into an episode for the US Studio One TV series in 1950, and a BBC television movie in 1957. they can to create a true meeting of independent Premium. He saved my sanity he sort of took me over and filled my time with golf and trips here and there and talk about the script. Find your bookmarks in your Independent Premium section, under my profile, There are no comments yet - be the first to add your thoughts, There are no Independent Premium comments yet - be the first to add your thoughts, Peter Viertel: Screen-writer and bon viveur, Email already exists. His obvious high intelligence, native German language skills, good looks and athleticism were useful in Nazi-controlled Europe. The home in Santa Monica Canyon was the site of salons and meetings of the Hollywood intelligentsia and the émigré community of European intellectuals, particularly at the Sunday night tea parties given by Viertel's mother. try again, the name must be unique, Please |  Want to discuss real-world problems, be involved in the most engaging discussions and hear from the journalists? [2] However, Viertel identified more with Southern California youth culture than with the European millieu he was exposed to by his family. He was under the illusion that I was a kindred spirit, adventurous and devil-may-care. Please It had not been Deborah's intent to change her life, but she was overtaken by events and before the movie had been completed in the spring of 1958 we were a couple, happy and plagued by problems at the same time. language is not acceptable, Do not impersonate other users or reveal private information about third parties, We reserve the right to delete inappropriate posts and ban offending users without notification, -1) ? The central character is scriptwriter Pete Verrill while the Huston character is called John Wilson. "The physical aspect of European intellectuals was so totally different from what an American kid wants to be," he told the International Herald Tribune in 1992.

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