- Born
- Died
- Birth nameJames Myers Thompson
- Nickname
- James Dillon
- Jim Thompson was born on September 27, 1906 in Anadarko, Oklahoma, USA. He was a writer and actor, known for Paths of Glory (1957), The Killing (1956) and The Getaway (1972). He died on April 7, 1977 in Hollywood, California, USA.
- He is considered among the most influential crime writers in American literature, with some critics claiming his superiority to the more popular Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler.
- After suffering a series of strokes, he starved himself to death.
- Sold drugs and bootleg liquor as a teenager while working at the Hotel Texas.
- Many of his early short stories were based on real murders but rewritten from a first-person perspective.
- Was blacklisted during the "Red Scare" era of Sen. Joseph McCarthy.
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