John "Jonathan" Gilmore (July 5, 1935 - October 13, 2016) was an American

author An author is the writer of a book, article, play, mostly written work. A broader definition of the word "author" states: "''An author is "the person who originated or gave existence to anything" and whose authorship determines responsibility f ...

and gonzo journalist known for iconoclastic Hollywood memoirs, true crime literature and hard-boiled fiction. A motion picture, television and stage actor in Los Angeles and New York in the 1950s, his friends including

James Dean James Byron Dean (February 8, 1931September 30, 1955) was an American actor. He is remembered as a cultural icon of teenage disillusionment and social estrangement, as expressed in the title of his most celebrated film, ''Rebel Without a Cause' ...

and

Marilyn Monroe Marilyn Monroe (; born Norma Jeane Mortenson; 1 June 1926 4 August 1962) was an American actress. Famous for playing comedic " blonde bombshell" characters, she became one of the most popular sex symbols of the 1950s and early 1960s, as wel ...

, Gilmore has also written about his encounter with

Elizabeth Short Elizabeth Short (July 29, 1924 – January 14–15, 1947), known posthumously as the Black Dahlia, was an American woman found murdered in the Leimert Park neighborhood of Los Angeles on January 15, 1947. Her case became highly publicized ow ...

a.k.a. "The Black Dahlia" during his youth. Gilmore emerged as a writer from the

Beat Generation The Beat Generation was a literary subculture movement started by a group of authors whose work explored and influenced American culture and politics in the post-war era. The bulk of their work was published and popularized by Silent Generatio ...

in the '60s, influenced by

Jack Kerouac Jean-Louis Lebris de Kérouac (; March 12, 1922 – October 21, 1969), known as Jack Kerouac, was an American novelist and poet who, alongside William S. Burroughs and Allen Ginsberg, was a pioneer of the Beat Generation. Of French-Canadian a ...

and befriended by author

William S. Burroughs William Seward Burroughs II (; February 5, 1914 – August 2, 1997) was an American writer and visual artist, widely considered a primary figure of the Beat Generation and a major postmodern author who influenced popular cultur ...

. The publication of his true crime book "Severed: The True Story of the Black Dahlia," ushered in a cult following for the author. His manuscripts and original writings are housed in the special collections department of the Research Library of the

University of California at Los Angeles The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a Normal school, teachers colle ...

Biography

John Gilmore was born in the Charity Ward of the Los Angeles County General Hospital and was raised in

Hollywood Hollywood usually refers to: * Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California * Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States Hollywood may also refer to: Places United States * Hollywood District (disambiguation) * Hollywood, ...

. His mother had been a studio contract-player for

MGM Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc., also known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures and abbreviated as MGM, is an American film, television production, distribution and media company owned by Amazon through MGM Holdings, founded on April 17, 1924 a ...

while his step-grandfather worked as head carpenter for

RKO Pictures RKO Radio Pictures Inc., commonly known as RKO Pictures or simply RKO, was an American film production and distribution company, one of the "Big Five" film studios of Hollywood's Golden Age. The business was formed after the Keith-Albee-Orphe ...

. Gilmore's parents separated when he was six months old and he was subsequently raised by his grandmother. Gilmore's father became a

Los Angeles Police Department The Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD), officially known as the City of Los Angeles Police Department, is the municipal police department of Los Angeles, California. With 9,974 police officers and 3,000 civilian staff, it is the third-large ...

(LAPD) officer, and also wrote and acted on radio shows, a police public service (the shows featured promising movie starlets as well as established performers like

Bonita Granville Bonita Gloria Granville Wrather (February 2, 1923 – October 11, 1988) was an American actress and producer. The daughter of vaudevillians, Granville began her career on the stage at age three. She initially began as a child actress, making h ...

Ann Rutherford Therese Ann Rutherford (November 2, 1917 – June 11, 2012) was a Canadian-born American actress in film, radio, and television. She had a long career starring and co-starring in films, playing Polly Benedict during the 1930s and 1940s in the An ...

, the "jungle girl"

Acquanetta Acquanetta (born Mildred Davenport; July 17, 1921 – August 16, 2004), nicknamed "The Venezuelan Volcano", was an American B-movie actress during the 1940s and 1950s. Acquanetta was most known for her "exotic" beauty. Early years The facts o ...

Joan Davis Josephine "Joan" Davis (June 29, 1907 – May 22, 1961) was an American comedic actress whose career spanned vaudeville, film, radio, and television. Remembered best for the 1950s television comedy ''I Married Joan'', Davis had a successful earl ...

Hillary Brooke Hillary Brooke (born Beatrice Sofia Mathilda Peterson; September 8, 1914 – May 25, 1999) was an American film actress. Career A 5′6″ blonde from the Astoria neighborhood of New York City's borough of Queens, Brooke, who was of Swedish an ...

, Ann Jeffreys,

Brenda Marshall Brenda Marshall (born Ardis Ankerson; September 29, 1915Some question exists regarding the exact date of her birth. An article in the December 31, 1939, issue of the '' Salt Lake Tribune'' says that she was born November 29, 1915. – July 3 ...

and other players young John Gilmore became acquainted with. As a child actor, he appeared in a

Gene Autry Orvon Grover "Gene" Autry (September 29, 1907 – October 2, 1998), nicknamed the Singing Cowboy, was an American singer, songwriter, actor, musician, rodeo performer, and baseball owner who gained fame largely by singing in a crooning s ...

movie and bit parts at

Republic Studios Republic Pictures Corporation (currently held under Melange Pictures, LLC) was an American motion picture production-distribution corporation in operation from 1935 to 1967, that was based in Los Angeles. It had studio facilities in Studio City an ...

. He worked in

LAPD The Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD), officially known as the City of Los Angeles Police Department, is the municipal police department of Los Angeles, California. With 9,974 police officers and 3,000 civilian staff, it is the third-large ...

safety films and did stints on radio. Eventually he appeared in commercial films. Actors

Ida Lupino Ida Lupino (4 February 1918Recorded in ''Births Mar 1918'' Camberwell Vol. 1d, p. 1019 (Free BMD). Transcribed as "Lupine" in the official births index – 3 August 1995) was an English-American actress, singer, director, writer, and producer. T ...

and

John Hodiak John Hodiak ( ; April 16, 1914 – October 19, 1955) was an American actor who worked in radio, stage and film. Early life Hodiak was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the son of Anna (Pogorzelec) and Walter Hodiak. He was of Ukrainian and ...

were mentors to Gilmore, who worked in numerous television shows and feature films at

Warner Bros. Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Warner Bros. or abbreviated as WB) is an American film and entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California, and a subsidiary of Warner Bros. D ...

20th Century Fox 20th Century Studios, Inc. (previously known as 20th Century Fox) is an American film production company headquartered at the Fox Studio Lot in the Century City area of Los Angeles. As of 2019, it serves as a film production arm of Walt Dis ...

, and

Universal International Universal Pictures (legally Universal City Studios LLC, also known as Universal Studios, or simply Universal; common metonym: Uni, and formerly named Universal Film Manufacturing Company and Universal-International Pictures Inc.) is an Americ ...

studios. During the 1950s, through John Hodiak, Gilmore sustained an acquaintanceship with

,Michelle Morgan, ''Marilyn Monroe: Private and Undisclosed''" 2007 then in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

, where Gilmore was involved with the

Actors Studio The Actors Studio is a membership organization for professional actors, theatre directors and playwrights at 432 West 44th Street between Ninth and Tenth avenues in the Hell's Kitchen neighborhood of Manhattan in New York City. It was founded ...

, transcribing the lectures of

Lee Strasberg Lee Strasberg (born Israel Strassberg; November 17, 1901 – February 17, 1982) was an American theatre director, actor and acting teacher. He co-founded, with theatre directors Harold Clurman and Cheryl Crawford, the Group Theatre in 1931 ...

into book form. Gilmore performed on stage and in

live TV Live television is a television production broadcast in real-time, as events happen, in the present. In a secondary meaning, it may refer to streaming television over the Internet when content or programming is played continuously (not on demand) ...

, wrote

poetry Poetry (derived from the Greek ''poiesis'', "making"), also called verse, is a form of literature that uses aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language − such as phonaesthetics, sound symbolism, and metre − to evoke meanings i ...

and

screenplay ''ScreenPlay'' is a television drama anthology series broadcast on BBC2 between 9 July 1986 and 27 October 1993. Background After single-play anthology series went off the air, the BBC introduced several showcases for made-for-television, fe ...

s, and directed two experimental plays, one by

Jean Genet Jean Genet (; – ) was a French novelist, playwright, poet, essayist, and political activist. In his early life he was a vagabond and petty criminal, but he later became a writer and playwright. His major works include the novels ''The Thief's ...

. He wrote and directed a low-budget film entitled "Expressions," later changed to "Blues for Benny." The film did not get a general release but was shown independently. After five years in which he wrote a dozen motion picture scripts and developed film projects with director Curtis Harrington, Gilmore eventually settled into a literary career as a

journalist A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalism ...

true crime True crime is a nonfiction literary, podcast, and film genre in which the author examines an actual crime and details the actions of real people associated with and affected by criminal events. The crimes most commonly include murder; about 40 per ...

writer and

novelist A novelist is an author or writer of novels, though often novelists also write in other genres of both fiction and non-fiction. Some novelists are professional novelists, thus make a living writing novels and other fiction, while others aspire to ...

. He served as head of the writing program at

Antioch University Antioch University is a private university with multiple campuses in the United States and online programs. Founded in 1852 as Antioch College, its first president was politician, abolitionist, and education reformer Horace Mann. It changed its n ...

and has taught and lectured at length.Gale Group, Inc. ''Contemporary Authors''; Volume 180, 2000.

Acting and writing careers

Gilmore's acting career consisted mainly of guest spots on many of the most popular shows of the time such as

Bonanza ''Bonanza'' is an American Western television series that ran on NBC from September 13, 1959, to January 16, 1973. Lasting 14 seasons and 432 episodes, ''Bonanza'' is NBC's longest-running western, the second-longest-running western series on U ...

and Naked City, but it was his offscreen exploits which made him a familiar face to audiences. While Gilmore was living in

in the spring of 1953, a mutual friend, movie bit-player and extra, Ray Curry, introduced him to actor

.John Gilmore ''The Real James Dean'' 1976 Gilmore and Dean developed a friendshipPaul Alexander ''Boulevard of Broken Dreams'' 1997 along with TV director

James Sheldon Leonard James Schleifer (November 12, 1920 – March 12, 2016) was an American television director. Sheldon directed for television programs including ''The Twilight Zone (1959 TV series), The Twilight Zone'', ''The Fugitive (1963 TV series), T ...

Eartha Kitt Eartha Kitt (born Eartha Mae Keith; January 17, 1927 – December 25, 2008) was an American singer and actress known for her highly distinctive singing style and her 1953 recordings of "C'est si bon" and the Christmas novelty song "Santa Ba ...

, and Broadway director, John Stix. After Gilmore returned to Hollywood, the friendship with James Dean

Joe Hyams Joe Hyams (June 6, 1923 – November 8, 2008) was an American Hollywood columnist and author of bestselling biographies of Hollywood stars. Career Hyams was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts, on June 6, 1923, and grew up in nearby Brookline. ...

, ''James Dean: Little Boy Lost'' 1994 was renewed, Eartha Kitt sometimes making it a trio in riding motorcycles along

Sunset Boulevard Sunset Boulevard is a boulevard in the central and western part of Los Angeles, California, that stretches from the Pacific Coast Highway in Pacific Palisades east to Figueroa Street in Downtown Los Angeles. It is a major thoroughfare in t ...

.Eartha Kitt, ''Alone With Me: A New Autobiography'' 1976 Gilmore and Dean also rode their motorcycles along Pacific Coast Highway, often at speeds in excess of the posted limits.Lee Raskin, ''James Dean: At Speed'' 2005 As a select group of friends in

leather jacket A leather jacket is a jacket-length coat that is usually worn on top of other apparel or item of clothing, and made from the tanned hide of various animals. The leather material is typically dyed black, or various shades of brown, but a wide ra ...

s, hanging out nights at

Googies Coffee Shop Googie's Coffee Shop (styled googies) was a small restaurant located at 8100 Sunset Boulevard in Los Angeles next door to the famous Schwab's Pharmacy at the beginning of the Sunset Strip. It was designed in 1949 by architect John Lautner and lent ...

on Sunset, next door to Schwab's Drugstore, Dean, Gilmore and others were referred to as the "Night Watch," as reported in ''

The Hollywood Reporter ''The Hollywood Reporter'' (''THR'') is an American digital and print magazine which focuses on the Cinema of the United States, Hollywood film industry, film, television, and entertainment industries. It was founded in 1930 as a daily trade pap ...

'' during April, 1955, and the ''Hollywood Citizen News'' during May, 1955, at the time Dean was starring in the film, ''

Rebel Without a Cause ''Rebel Without a Cause'' is a 1955 American coming-of-age drama film about emotionally confused suburban, middle-class teenagers. Filmed in the then recently introduced CinemaScope format and directed by Nicholas Ray, it offered both social co ...

''. In his first book on Dean, ''The Real James Dean'', published in 1975, Gilmore caused considerable controversy when he stated that their friendship involved an experimentation with

homosexual Homosexuality is romantic attraction, sexual attraction, or sexual behavior between members of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality is "an enduring pattern of emotional, romantic, and/or sexual attractions" to peop ...

ity. In 1997, Gilmore wrote a second, more detailed book on his relationship with James Dean, entitled ''Live Fast, Die Young: Remembering the Short Life of James Dean''. Author

Donald Spoto Donald Spoto (born June 28, 1941) is an American biographer and theologian. He is known for his best-selling biographies of people in the worlds of film and theater, and more recently for his books on theology and spirituality. Spoto has writte ...

interviewed Gilmore about Dean for his bio ''Rebel: The Life and Legend of James Dean'',Donald Spoto, ''Rebel: The Life and Legend of James Dean'' 1996 as other authors, i.e.

, Val Holley, Paul Alexander, Liz Sheridan had interviewed Gilmore previously.John Gilmore, ''Live Fast, Die Young: Remembering the Short Life of James Dean'' 1998 After writing a series of action-oriented "pulp sleaze" novels in 1962-63 for Lou Kimzey's France Books in North Hollywood (under the pseudonyms Sol Tabor, Neil Egri and Mort Gillian), in 1970 Gilmore published ''The Tucson Murders'', through

Dial Press The Dial Press was a publishing house founded in 1923 by Lincoln MacVeagh. The Dial Press shared a building with ''The Dial'' and Scofield Thayer worked with both. The first imprint was issued in 1924. Authors included Elizabeth Bowen, W. R. Bu ...

, New York, a hardcover nonfiction true crime detailing the life and crimes of Charles Schmid, the "notorious pied piper of Tucson".John Gilmore, ''Tucson Murders'' 1970 Following this, Gilmore published his second nonfiction, ''The Garbage People'', a hardcover exploration into the lives of

Charles Manson Charles Milles Manson (; November 12, 1934November 19, 2017) was an American criminal and musician who led the Manson Family, a cult based in California, in the late 1960s. Some of the members committed a series of nine murders at four loca ...

and the Family. A few years before the so-called

Manson Murders Charles Milles Manson (; November 12, 1934November 19, 2017) was an American criminal and musician who led the Manson Family, a cult based in California, in the late 1960s. Some of the members committed a series of nine murders at four loc ...

, and while an actor, Gilmore met actress

Sharon Tate Sharon Marie Tate Polanski (January 24, 1943 – August 9, 1969) was an American actress and model. During the 1960s, she played small television roles before appearing in films and was regularly featured in fashion magazines as a model and cover ...

at 20th Century Fox studios.John Gilmore, ''The Garbage People'' 1998 Writing on his Website about

Sal Mineo Salvatore Mineo Jr. (January 10, 1939 – February 12, 1976) was an American actor, singer, and director. He is best known for his role as John "Plato" Crawford in the drama film ''Rebel Without a Cause'' (1955), which earned him a nomination f ...

, Gilmore says of Dean's other co-stars in ''Rebel Without A Cause'' that Dean avoided both Nick Adams and

Natalie Wood Natalie Wood ( Zacharenko; July 20, 1938 – November 29, 1981) was an American actress who began her career in film as a child and successfully transitioned to young adult roles. Wood started acting at age four and was given a co-starring r ...

and that "once off the set, he went out of his way to go in the opposite direction." Also a friend of another ''Rebel'' co-star,

Dennis Hopper Dennis Lee Hopper (May 17, 1936 – May 29, 2010) was an American actor, filmmaker and photographer. He attended the Actors Studio, made his first television appearance in 1954, and soon after appeared in ''Giant'' (1956). In the next ten years ...

, Gilmore hung out with him in Hollywood and in New York City. In the late 1950s, John Gilmore spent time in

Paris, France Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

, frequented the

Beat Hotel The Beat Hotel was a small, run-down hotel of 42 rooms at 9 Rue Gît-le-Cœur in the Latin Quarter of Paris, notable chiefly as a residence for members of the Beat poetry movement of the mid-20th century. Overview It was a "class 13" hotel, mean ...

, sustained friendships with novelist

Françoise Sagan Françoise Sagan (born Françoise Delphine Quoirez; 21 June 1935 – 24 September 2004) was a French playwright, novelist, and screenwriter. Sagan was known for works with strong romantic themes involving wealthy and disillusioned bourgeois char ...

and movie star

Brigitte Bardot Brigitte Anne-Marie Bardot ( ; ; born 28 September 1934), often referred to by her initials B.B., is a former French actress, singer and model. Famous for portraying sexually emancipated characters with hedonistic lifestyles, she was one of the ...

. He met

and wrote a novel that was opted by Henry Miller's publisher,

Maurice Girodias Maurice Girodias (12 April 1919 – 3 July 1990) was a French publisher who founded the Olympia Press, specialising in risqué books, censored in Britain and America, that were permitted in France in English-language versions only. It evol ...

Olympia Press Olympia Press was a Paris-based publisher, launched in 1953 by Maurice Girodias as a rebranded version of the Obelisk Press he inherited from his father Jack Kahane. It published a mix of erotic fiction and avant-garde literary fiction, and is bes ...

. However, the novel was not published due to financial troubles related to Olympia Press. Girodias later started a publishing company in New York: Girodias Press, and with the encouragement of

William Burroughs William Seward Burroughs II (; February 5, 1914 – August 2, 1997) was an American writer and visual artist, widely considered a primary figure of the Beat Generation and a major postmodern author who influenced popular cultu ...

, Gilmore's novel was again set to go to press, this time under the title "Passenger of Satan." Again the company folded. The book was later published by Creation Books in the UK, under the original title, "Fetish Blonde". Gilmore says, "The novel underwent a number of changes in those decades but the guts remained the same." In 1971, Gilmore published his first account of '60s

cult In modern English, ''cult'' is usually a pejorative term for a social group that is defined by its unusual religious, spiritual, or philosophical beliefs and rituals, or its common interest in a particular personality, object, or goal. This ...

leader and convicted murderer,

titled ''The Garbage People''. Modestly successful, it gained a much larger audience through a 1996 re-release, and like most of Gilmore's books, remains in print.

Later life

In 1994, Gilmore wrote a book that chronicled the famous

Black Dahlia Elizabeth Short (July 29, 1924 – January 14–15, 1947), known posthumously as the Black Dahlia, was an American woman found murdered in the Leimert Park neighborhood of Los Angeles on January 15, 1947. Her case became highly publicized ow ...

unsolved homicide. Occurring in 1947, at a time when his father was on the police force, Gilmore's book ''Severed: The True Story of the Black Dahlia Murder'' earned him wide recognition. According to the

Publishers Weekly ''Publishers Weekly'' (''PW'') is an American weekly trade news magazine targeted at publishers, librarians, booksellers, and literary agents. Published continuously since 1872, it has carried the tagline, "The International News Magazine of B ...

review, in the book "Gilmore presents evidence that strengthens the LAPD's case against chief suspect Jack Wilson, a reclusive,

alcoholic Alcoholism is, broadly, any drinking of alcohol that results in significant mental or physical health problems. Because there is disagreement on the definition of the word ''alcoholism'', it is not a recognized diagnostic entity. Predomin ...

burglar Burglary, also called breaking and entering and sometimes housebreaking, is the act of entering a building or other areas without permission, with the intention of committing a criminal offence. Usually that offence is theft, robbery or murd ...

and possible

serial killer A serial killer is typically a person who murders three or more persons,A * * * * with the murders taking place over more than a month and including a significant period of time between them. While most authorities set a threshold of three ...

".John Douglas, Mark Olshaker '' The Cases That Haunt Us'' 2000

Marilyn Manson Brian Hugh Warner (born January 5, 1969), known professionally as Marilyn Manson, is an American rock musician. He came to prominence as the lead singer of the band which shares his name, of which he remains the only constant member since it ...

, who made paintings based on photos from the book, said: "''Severed'' is my favorite book... John Gilmore is my favorite writer. It has been my desire to direct ''Severed'' as a movie ... my directorial debut ...". The motion picture rights to ''Severed: The True Story of the Black Dahlia Murder'' had been under option by Edward Pressman Films for six years, during which time

David Lynch David Keith Lynch (born January 20, 1946) is an American filmmaker, visual artist and actor. A recipient of an Academy Honorary Award in 2019, Lynch has received three Academy Award nominations for Best Director, and the César Award for Be ...

was brought in to direct. Due to disagreements in the approach to the subject, despite having developed a script, the deal with David Lynch dissolved. Chris Hanley was then producing ''Severed: The True Story of the Black Dahlia Murder'', for Edward Pressman Films, with

Floria Sigismondi Floria Sigismondi (, born 1965) is an Italian-Canadian film director, screenwriter, music video director, artist, and photographer. She is best known for writing and directing '' The Runaways'', for directing music videos for performers includi ...

involved as director.

Colin Wilson Colin Henry Wilson (26 June 1931 – 5 December 2013) was an English writer, philosopher and novelist. He also wrote widely on true crime, mysticism and the paranormal, eventually writing more than a hundred books. Wilson called his phil ...

says of Gilmore's ''Severed: The True Story of the Black Dahlia Murder'': "The best book on the Black Dahlia--in fact, the only reliable book."John Gilmore, ''Severed: The True Story of the Black Dahlia Murder'' 1994 John Gilmore's second 1996 release received praise from the

New York Times Book Review ''The New York Times Book Review'' (''NYTBR'') is a weekly paper-magazine supplement to the Sunday edition of ''The New York Times'' in which current non-fiction and fiction books are reviewed. It is one of the most influential and widely rea ...

for his story on the life and crimes of multiple

murder Murder is the unlawful killing of another human without justification (jurisprudence), justification or valid excuse (legal), excuse, especially the unlawful killing of another human with malice aforethought. ("The killing of another person wit ...

er,

Charles Schmid Charles Howard Schmid, Jr. (July 8, 1942 – March 30, 1975), also known as the Pied Piper of Tucson, was an American serial killer whose crimes were detailed by journalist Don Moser in an article featured in the March 4, 1966, issue of ''Life'' ...

. In 1997, in "''Laid Bare''", his first book of memoirs, Gilmore recounts his associations beginning in the 1950s and through the 1960s with

Hank Williams Hank Williams (born Hiram Williams; September 17, 1923 – January 1, 1953) was an American singer, songwriter, and musician. Regarded as one of the most significant and influential American singers and songwriters of the 20th century, he reco ...

Janis Joplin Janis Lyn Joplin (January 19, 1943 – October 4, 1970) was an American singer and musician. One of the most successful and widely known Rock music, rock stars of her era, she was noted for her powerful mezzo-soprano vocals and "electric" stage ...

Jack Nicholson John Joseph Nicholson (born April 22, 1937) is an American retired actor and filmmaker. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest actors of all time. In many of his films, he played rebels against the social structure. He received numerous ...

Jane Fonda Jane Seymour Fonda (born December 21, 1937) is an American actress, activist, and former fashion model. Recognized as a film icon, Fonda is the recipient of various accolades including two Academy Awards, two British Academy Film Awards, sev ...

Jean Seberg Jean Dorothy Seberg (; ; November 13, 1938August 30, 1979) was an American actress who lived half of her life in France. Her performance in Jean-Luc Godard's 1960 film ''Breathless'' immortalized her as an icon of French New Wave cinema. Seb ...

Steve McQueen Terrence Stephen McQueen (March 24, 1930November 7, 1980) was an American actor. His antihero persona, emphasized during the height of the counterculture of the 1960s, made him a top box-office draw for his films of the late 1950s, 1960s, and 1 ...

Irish McCalla Nellie Elizabeth "Irish" McCalla (December 25, 1928 – February 1, 2002) was an American film and television actress and artist best known as the title star of the 1950s television series ''Sheena, Queen of the Jungle''. She co-starred with act ...

Jayne Mansfield Jayne Mansfield (born Vera Jayne Palmer; April 19, 1933 – June 29, 1967) was an American actress, singer, nightclub entertainer, and ''Playboy'' Playmate. A sex symbol of the 1950s and early 1960s while under contract at 20th Century Fox, Man ...

Ed Wood Edward Davis Wood Jr. (October 10, 1924 – December 10, 1978) was an American filmmaker, actor, and pulp novel author. In the 1950s, Wood directed several low-budget science fiction, crime and horror films that later became cult cla ...

, and other personalities.John Gilmore, ''Laid Bare: A Memoir of Wrecked Lives and The Hollywood Death Trip'' 1997

Death

John Gilmore died on October 13, 2016. He is survived by his son Carson Gilmore (a professional classical musician and published author), and a daughter, Ursula Gilmore, an artist, journalist and businesswoman.

Legacy

Married and divorced three times, John Gilmore is survived by two children, son Carson Gilmore and daughter Ursula Gilmore. He lived in the Hollywood Hills. He was frequently interviewed in the media by the ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...

'' and ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' as well as other international publications, and documentaries, and was described as a noir cult figure, a "

cultural icon A cultural icon is a person or an artifact that is identified by members of a culture as representative of that culture. The process of identification is subjective, and "icons" are judged by the extent to which they can be seen as an authentic ...

," with numerous books always in the works. He was and continues to be published worldwide. In 2007 Gilmore completed an in-depth memoir, "a personal journey," Gilmore says, into the short life of

: ''Inside Marilyn Monroe''. Gilmore published the novel, ''Hollywood Boulevard'', and another in September 2012 which he called his "true crime, creative nonfiction", ''On the Run with Bonnie & Clyde.''

Published works

*''Miss Brutal'' (1963) as Sol Taber aka Brutal Baby *''Dark Obsession'' (1963) as Mort Gillian *''Lesbos in Panama'' (1963) as Neil Egri *''Strange Fire'' (1963) as Neil Egri *''Hot Spot'' (1966) as J.T. Howard *''The Fourth Sex'' (1966) as T.J. Howard *''The Tucson Murders'' (1970) *''The Garbage People'' (1971) *''The Real James Dean'' (1976) *'' Severed: The True Story of the Black Dahlia Murder'' (1994) *''Cold-Blooded: The Saga of Charles Schmid, the Notorious "Pied Piper of Tucson"'' (1996) *''Laid Bare: A Memoir of Wrecked Lives and the Hollywood Death Trip'' (1997) *''Live Fast-Die Young: Remembering the Short Life of James Dean'' (1997) (Out of print; can be previewed a
Amazon.com
*''Fetish Blonde'' (1998) *''Manson: The Unholy Trail of Charlie and the Family'' (2000) *''L.A. Despair: A Landscape of Crimes & Bad Times'' (2005) *''Crazy Streak'' (2005) *''Inside Marilyn Monroe'' (2007) *''Hollywood Boulevard'' (2009) * ''On the Run with Bonnie & Clyde'' (2013)

References

External links

The John Gilmore Papers, U.C.L.A. Special Collections
*
Interview with John Gilmore on the Black DahliaInterview with John Gilmore on his relationship with Marilyn Monroe
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gilmore, John 1935 births 2016 deaths 20th-century American novelists 21st-century American novelists American investigative journalists American male journalists Journalists from California American male novelists American non-fiction crime writers Beat Generation writers Writers from Los Angeles 20th-century American male actors 20th-century American male writers 21st-century American male writers 20th-century American non-fiction writers 21st-century American non-fiction writers