A moment of silence, please

[gae]

Legendary Mystery Author Mickey Spillane Dies
Writer Created Gumshoe Mike Hammer

MURRELLS INLET, S.C. -- Legendary author Mickey Spillane, the macho mystery writer who wowed millions of readers with the shoot-'em-up sex and violence of gumshoe Mike Hammer, has died.

Spillane died Tuesday. His death was confirmed by Brad Stephens of Goldfinch Funeral Home in his hometown of Murrells Inlet.

Spillane was 88.

The Myrtle Beach Sun News said on its Web site that Spillane had suffered from pancreatic cancer and died at his home.

Spillane was born Frank Morrison Spillane in Brooklyn, N.Y., on March 9, 1918.

After starting out in comic books, Spillane wrote his first Mike Hammer novel, "I, the Jury," in 1946.

Twelve more followed, with sales topping 100 million. Notable titles included "The Killing Man," "The Girl Hunters" and "One Lonely Night."

Many of these books were made into movies, including the classic film noir "Kiss Me, Deadly" and "The Girl Hunters," in which Spillane starred.

Biff Elliott played Hammer in the film version in "I, the Jury," while Ralph Meeker assumed the role for "Kiss Me, Deadly."

But the role of Hammer is perhaps best identified with actor Stacy Keach, who played the detective on the television series "Mickey Spillane's Mike Hammer" and in subsequent made-for-TV movies.

In the 1980s, Spillane appeared in a string of Miller Lite beer commercials.

Spillane was married and divorced three times. He had four children with his third wife, Mary Ann Pearce.

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[cincygreg]

Everyone forgets the [img]graemlins/beer.gif[/img] commercials [img]graemlins/thumbs_up.gif[/img]

A loss indeed, he will be missed by many but rememberred by more.

[LanDroid]

I've never read one of his books, this could be a good Summer to do it. The cover of this book always "fascinated" me as a kid, let's start with that one, AY? Heh, toting that book around would embarrass the **** out of my daughter and bewilder my wife, an excellent side benefit.

<font color="#a62a2a" size="1">[ July 19, 2006 06:43 AM: Message edited by: LanDroid ]</font>

[gae]

Lan,

Mickey wasn't a great novelist, but he did spawn a genre.

signed, the Geek who has read ALL oo his stuff. Most of it before I was 12. [img]smile.gif[/img]

[Lew]

I tell you, Gae just gets hotter and hotter the more I learn about her. I mean, from the moment I met her, I pegged her as almost exclusively a Jackie Collins girl (with maybe, maybe, just a little Sydney Sheldon thrown in for good measure). I had no idea Mike Hammer was so much as a blip on her radar screen.

It just goes to show you really shouldn't stereotype people.

But I'll go ahead and do it anyway: Here are my unsubstantiated stereotypes of who people on this board read with vigor:

Jumper- Tom Clancy
D2- Carl Sagan
GL- E.L. Doctorow (and in more recent years, Mario Puzo)
Trav- Newt Gingrich (which reminds me, I still have one of Trav's books of his)
Reason- Hunter S. Thompson
Greg- Peter Bronson
LanD- Molly Ivins
Lake- Erma Bombeck
Raven- The Rock, Anne Rice

[gae]

Originally posted by Lew:
I tell you, Gae just gets hotter and hotter the more I learn about her. I mean, from the moment I met her, I pegged her as almost exclusively a Jackie Collins girl (with maybe, maybe, just a little Sydney Sheldon thrown in for good measure). I had no idea Mike Hammer was so much as a blip on her radar screen.

It just goes to show you really shouldn't stereotype people.

But I'll go ahead and do it anyway: Here are my unsubstantiated stereotypes of who people on this board read with vigor:

Jumper- Tom Clancy
D2- Carl Sagan
GL- E.L. Doctorow (and in more recent years, Mario Puzo)
Trav- Newt Gingrich (which reminds me, I still have one of Trav's books of his)
Reason- Hunter S. Thompson
Greg- Peter Bronson
LanD- Molly Ivins
Lake- Erma Bombeck
Raven- The Rock, Anne Rice

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">THEMS are fightin words! Jackie Collins and Sheldon ny ass.

Clancy -- check!
Sagan -- Check!
Doctorow -- Check!
Thompson -- Check!
Anne Rice -- Check!

Throw in the Russians and the Welsh and I'll need to kill someone for hacking my list at the library.