Henry Hunt Searls (August 10, 1922 – February 17, 2017) was an American author and screenwriter. His novels included ''The Crowded Sky'' (1960), which was adapted as the 1960 movie of the same name; ''The Pilgrim Project'' (1964), which was adapted as the 1968 movie ''

Countdown A countdown is a sequence of backward counting to indicate the time remaining before an event is scheduled to occur. NASA commonly employs the terms "L-minus" and "T-minus" during the preparation for and anticipation of a rocket launch, and eve ...

''; and ''The Penetrators'' (1965, writing as Anthony Gray). Searls also wrote the

novelization A novelization (or novelisation) is a derivative novel that adapts the story of a work created for another medium, such as a film, TV series, stage play, comic book or video game. Film novelizations were particularly popular before the advent of ...

s for the movies ''

Jaws 2 ''Jaws 2'' is a 1978 American thriller film directed by Jeannot Szwarc and co-written by Carl Gottlieb. It is the sequel to Steven Spielberg's ''Jaws'' (1975), and the second installment in the ''Jaws'' franchise. The film stars Roy Scheider as ...

'' (1978) featuring

Roy Scheider Roy Richard Scheider (; November 10, 1932 – February 10, 2008) was an American actor and amateur boxer. Described by AllMovie as "one of the most unique and distinguished of all Hollywood actors", he gained fame for his leading and supporting ...

and

Murray Hamilton Murray Hamilton (March 24, 1923 – September 1, 1986) was an American stage, screen, and television character actor who appeared in such films as ''Anatomy of a Murder'', ''The Hustler'', ''The Graduate'', ''Jaws'' and ''The Amityville Hor ...

, and '' Jaws: The Revenge'' (1987) featuring

Michael Caine Sir Michael Caine (born Maurice Joseph Micklewhite; 14 March 1933) is an English actor. Known for his distinctive Cockney accent, he has appeared in more than 160 films in a career spanning seven decades, and is considered a British film ico ...

and

Lorraine Gary Lorraine Gottfried (born August 16, 1937), better known by her stage name Lorraine Gary, is a retired American actress, best known for her role as Ellen Brody in the ''Jaws'' film series. She also appeared in '' 1941'' and ''Car Wash''. Early li ...

Career

Hank Searls' 1960 novel, ''The Crowded Sky'', was made that same year into a

feature movie A feature film or feature-length film is a narrative film (motion picture or "movie") with a running time long enough to be considered the principal or sole presentation in a commercial entertainment program. The term ''feature film'' originall ...

featuring

Dana Andrews Carver Dana Andrews (January 1, 1909 – December 17, 1992) was an American film actor who became a major star in what is now known as film noir. A leading man during the 1940s, he continued acting in less prestigious roles and character parts ...

Rhonda Fleming Rhonda Fleming (born Marilyn Louis; August 10, 1923 – October 14, 2020) was an American film and television actress and singer. She acted in more than 40 films, mostly in the 1940s and 1950s, and became renowned as one of the most glamoro ...

Anne Francis Anne Francis (also known as Anne Lloyd Francis; September 16, 1930 – January 2, 2011) was an American actress known for her ground-breaking roles in the science-fiction film ''Forbidden Planet'' (1956) and the television action-drama seri ...

, and

Troy Donahue Troy Donahue (born Merle Johnson Jr., January 27, 1936 – September 2, 2001) was an American film and television actor and singer. He was a popular sex symbol in the 1950s and 1960s. Biography Early years Born in New York City, Donahue was ...

. Set in the USAF's

Strategic Air Command Strategic Air Command (SAC) was both a United States Department of Defense Specified Command and a United States Air Force (USAF) Major Command responsible for command and control of the strategic bomber and intercontinental ballistic missile ...

, the 1965 novel ''The Penetrators'' is the story of a maverick

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and ...

exchange officer who commands a mock

Avro Vulcan The Avro Vulcan (later Hawker Siddeley Vulcan from July 1963) is a jet-powered, tailless, delta-wing, high-altitude, strategic bomber, which was operated by the Royal Air Force (RAF) from 1956 until 1984. Aircraft manufacturer A.V. Roe and ...

bomber attack on the USA. Replete with quotes from

Curtis LeMay Curtis Emerson LeMay (November 15, 1906 – October 1, 1990) was an American Air Force general who implemented a controversial strategic bombing campaign in the Pacific theater of World War II. He later served as Chief of Staff of the U.S. Air ...

, Robert S McNamara and other officials of the

Cold War The Cold War is a term commonly used to refer to a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. The term '' cold war'' is used because the ...

era, ''The Penetrators'' was the kind of detailed, political-military thriller which later became characteristic of

Tom Clancy Thomas Leo Clancy Jr. (April 12, 1947 – October 1, 2013) was an American novelist. He is best known for his technically detailed espionage and military science, military-science storylines set during and after the Cold War. Seventeen of ...

. The book also strongly argued the case for the US's crewed long-range bomber force, which was then in danger of being phased out in favour of

ICBMs An intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) is a ballistic missile with a range greater than , primarily designed for nuclear weapons delivery (delivering one or more thermonuclear warheads). Conventional, chemical, and biological weapons ...

. Searls' novel ''The Pilgrim Project'' was adapted as the 1968

Robert Altman Robert Bernard Altman ( ; February 20, 1925 – November 20, 2006) was an American film director, screenwriter, and producer. He was a five-time nominee of the Academy Award for Best Director and is considered an enduring figure from the New H ...

movie ''

'', which featured

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and

James Caan James Edmund Caan ( ; March 26, 1940 – July 6, 2022) was an American actor. He came to prominence playing Sonny Corleone in ''The Godfather'' (1972) – a performance which earned him Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, Academy Award an ...

. Based on his own novel of the same title, Searls wrote the screenplay for the 1978

Angie Dickinson Angeline Dickinson (née Brown; born September 30, 1931) is an American actress. She began her career on television, appearing in many anthology series during the 1950s, before gaining her breakthrough role in ''Gun the Man Down'' (1956) wit ...

television movie ''Overboard''. He wrote a biography of

Joseph P. Kennedy, Jr. Joseph Patrick Kennedy Jr. (July 25, 1915 – August 12, 1944) was the eldest of the nine children born to Joseph P. Kennedy Sr. and Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy. A US Navy lieutenant, he was killed in action during World War II while serving as a la ...

''The Lost Prince: Young Joe, The Forgotten Kennedy.'' This became the basis of the 1977 television film '' Young Joe, the Forgotten Kennedy'', with

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in the title role. Searls' other military and aviation-themed novels included: ''The Astronaut'' (1962), ''Pentagon'' (1971), ''Hero Ship'' (1969), ''The Big X'' (1959), and ''Altitude Zero'' (1991). His other writings were ''Firewind'' (1981), ''Sounding'' (1982), ''Blood Song'' (1984), ''Kataki'' (1987), and ''The Adventures of Mike Blair'' (1988). He also wrote the novelizations of the movies ''

'' in 1978 and '' Jaws: The Revenge'' in 1987. In the book "Console Wars" (2014) by Blake Harris, the popular Sega Genesis game ''

Ecco the Dolphin ''Ecco the Dolphin'' is a series of action-adventure video games developed by Appaloosa Interactive (previously known as Novotrade International) and published by Sega. They were originally developed for the Mega Drive/Genesis and Dreamcast video ...

'' (1992) is said to be inspired by Searls' novel "Sounding", though the reference is anonymized. Ed Annunziata, designer of Ecco and its sequel, allegedly thought of the concept for the game while reading the novel.

Selected bibliography

* ''The Crowded Sky'' (1960) (novel) * ''The New Breed'' "No Fat Cops" (1961) (TV episode) * ''The Fugitive'' "Never Wave Goodbye: Part 1 & 2" (1963) (TV episode) * ''Convoy'' "The Man with the Saltwater Socks" (1965) (TV episode) * ''Kraft Suspense Theatre'' "Streetcar, Do You Read Me?" (1965) (TV episode teleplay) * ''Felony Squad'' "A Date with Terror" (1966) (TV episode) * ''The Pilgrim Project'' (novel), adapted in 1968 as ''

'' * ''O'Hara, U.S. Treasury'' "Operation: Offset" (1971) (TV episode) * ''The Lost Prince: Young Joe, the Forgotten Kennedy'' (biography), adapted for TV as ''Young Joe, the Forgotten Kennedy'' (1977) * ''Overboard'' (1978) (novel and teleplay) * ''Jaws 2'' (novelization) 1978 * ''Wheels'' (1978) TV mini-series writer * ''Jaws: The Revenge'' (novelization) 1987

References

External links

*
Hank Searls' bibliography
at Fantasticfiction.co.uk
Hank Searls at SciFan
{{DEFAULTSORT:Searls, Hank 1922 births 2017 deaths 20th-century American novelists 20th-century American male writers American male novelists American male screenwriters United States Navy personnel of World War II American thriller writers United States Naval Academy alumni Writers from San Francisco