Richard Suskind (May 2, 1925September 14, 1999) was a children's author who participated with author

Clifford Irving Clifford Michael Irving (November 5, 1930 – December 19, 2017) was an American novelist and investigative reporter. Although he published 20 novels, he is best known for an "autobiography" allegedly written as told to Irving by billionaire ...

in creating a fraudulent autobiography of the reclusive entrepreneur

Howard Hughes Howard Robard Hughes Jr. (December 24, 1905 – April 5, 1976) was an American business magnate, record-setting pilot, engineer, film producer, and philanthropist, known during his lifetime as one of the most influential and richest people in th ...

. Suskind was incarcerated for five months of a six-month prison sentence for his role in collaborating with Irving on the hoax. He died in 1999, aged 74, in Woodland Hills Los Angeles County, California, USA. He was portrayed in the 2007 film ''

The Hoax ''The Hoax'' is a 2006 American comedy-drama film starring Richard Gere, directed by Swedish filmmaker Lasse Hallström. The screenplay by William Wheeler is based on the book of the same title by Clifford Irving. It recounts Irving's elaborate ...

'' by

Alfred Molina Alfred Molina (born Alfredo Molina; 24 May 1953) is a British-American actor known for his work on the stage and screen. He first rose to prominence in the West End, earning a nomination for the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Newcomer in a Pla ...

Biography

Richard Suskind was born in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

and attended public schools there. In 1943, he joined the Army and served in the 8th Armored Division as a machine gunner in the

Battle of the Bulge The Battle of the Bulge, also known as the Ardennes Offensive, was the last major German offensive campaign on the Western Front during World War II. The battle lasted from 16 December 1944 to 28 January 1945, towards the end of the war in ...

, in the Netherlands and in Germany. After the war he continued his education on the

G.I. Bill The Servicemen's Readjustment Act of 1944, commonly known as the G.I. Bill, was a law that provided a range of benefits for some of the returning World War II veterans (commonly referred to as G.I.s). The original G.I. Bill expired in 1956, bu ...

in such schools as

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

, the

University of Florence The University of Florence (Italian: ''Università degli Studi di Firenze'', UniFI) is an Italian public research university located in Florence, Italy. It comprises 12 schools and has around 50,000 students enrolled. History The first universi ...

, the

University of Paris , image_name = Coat of arms of the University of Paris.svg , image_size = 150px , caption = Coat of Arms , latin_name = Universitas magistrorum et scholarium Parisiensis , motto = ''Hic et ubique terrarum'' (Latin) , mottoeng = Here and a ...

, the Juilliard School of Music, and the

Paris Conservatory of Music The Conservatoire de Paris (), also known as the Paris Conservatory, is a college of music and dance founded in 1795. Officially known as the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris (CNSMDP), it is situated in the avenue ...

. In 1948, Suskind served with the Israeli Army during the Arab–Israeli War. He then joined the merchant marine, and in the next two years traveled around the world twice. He spent two years in

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

, five in

Paris 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 ...

, and seven years on the Spanish island of Ibiza, part of the Balearic group in the Mediterranean. A writer since the age of fifteen, Suskind was the author of twelve books and more than one hundred articles and short stories. He was married and had one son.

Bibliography

* 1962 ''Crusades'' * 1964 ''Do You Want to Live Forever!'' * 1967 ''Cross and Crescent: the Story of the Crusades'' * 1968 ''Men in Armor: the Story of Knights & Knighthood'' * 1969 ''Swords, Spears & Sandals: the Story of the Roman Legions'' * 1969 ''Battle of Belleau Wood; the Marines Stand Fast'' * 1970 ''Barbarians: the Story of the European Tribes'' * 1971 ''Sword of the Prophet: the Story of the Moslem Empire'' * 1971 ''By Bullet, Bomb and Dagger: the Story of Anarchism'' * 1973 ''Crusader King, Richard the Lionhearted''

Collaboration

* 1972 with Clifford Irving: ''What Really Happened; His untold story of the Hughes Affair'', New York: Grove Press. * As ''Project Octavio: The Story of the Howard Hughes Hoax'', London: Allison & Busby, 1977.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Suskind, Richard Literary forgeries American children's writers 1925 births 1999 deaths