William Thomas Harris III (born 1940/1941) is an American writer, best known for a series of suspense novels about his most famous character,
Hannibal Lecter
Dr. Hannibal Lecter is a Character (arts), fictional character created by the novelist Thomas Harris. Lecter is a serial killer who Human cannibalism, eats his victims. Before his capture, he was a respected Forensic psychiatry, forensic psychi ...
. The majority of his works have been adapted into films and television, the most notable being ''
The Silence of the Lambs'', which became only the third film in
Academy Awards
The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...
history to sweep the Oscars in major categories.
[Conklin 1999]
Biography
Harris was born in
Jackson, Tennessee
Jackson is a city in and the county seat of Madison County, Tennessee, United States. Located east of Memphis, Tennessee, Memphis, it is a regional center of trade for West Tennessee. Its total population was 68,205 as of the 2020 United States ...
, but moved as a child with his family to
Rich, Mississippi
Rich is an unincorporated community in Coahoma County, Mississippi, United States.
The settlement is located along the Yazoo Pass waterway.
History
First called Yazoo Pass Station, the settlement was a stop along a now-abandoned section of the I ...
. He was introverted and bookish in grade school and then blossomed in high school. He attended
Baylor University
Baylor University is a private Baptist Christian research university in Waco, Texas. Baylor was chartered in 1845 by the last Congress of the Republic of Texas. Baylor is the oldest continuously operating university in Texas and one of the fir ...
in
Waco, Texas
Waco ( ) is the county seat of McLennan County, Texas, United States. It is situated along the Brazos River and I-35, halfway between Dallas and Austin. The city had a 2020 population of 138,486, making it the 22nd-most populous city in the ...
, where he majored in
English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
** English national ide ...
and graduated in 1964. While in college, he worked as a reporter for the local newspaper, the ''
Waco Tribune-Herald
The ''Waco Tribune-Herald'' is an American daily newspaper serving Waco, Texas, and vicinity.
Background
The newspaper has its roots in five predecessors, beginning with the ''Waco Evening Telephone'' in 1892. The ''Tribune-Herald'' took its curr ...
'', covering the police beat. In 1968, he moved to New York City to work for ''
Associated Press
The Associated Press (AP) is an American non-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association. It produces news reports that are distributed to its members, U.S. newspa ...
'' until 1974 when he began work on his debut novel, ''
Black Sunday''.
Personal life
Little is known about Harris' personal life as he avoids publicity; he did not give a substantive interview between 1976 and 2019.
[Hoban 1991] At Baylor University he met and married Harriet Anne Haley, a fellow student, in June 1961. They had one daughter, Elizabeth Anne, before they divorced in August 1968. Harris was always close to his mother Polly and called her every night no matter where he was. He often discussed particular scenes from his novels with her.
[Cowley 2006 p. 45] Polly died on December 31, 2011.
He lives in
South Florida
South Florida is the southernmost region of the U.S. state of Florida. It is one of Florida's three most commonly referred to directional regions; the other two are Central Florida and North Florida. South Florida is the southernmost part of th ...
and has a summer home in
Sag Harbor, New York
Sag Harbor is an incorporated village in Suffolk County, New York, United States, in the towns of Southampton and East Hampton on eastern Long Island. The village developed as a working port on Gardiner's Bay. The population was 2,772 at the ...
.
His long-term domestic partner is Pace Barnes, a woman who, according to ''
USA Today
''USA Today'' (stylized in all uppercase) is an American daily middle-market newspaper and news broadcasting company. Founded by Al Neuharth on September 15, 1982, the newspaper operates from Gannett's corporate headquarters in Tysons, Virgini ...
'', "used to work in publishing and is as outgoing as he is quiet." Harris' friend and literary agent
Morton Janklow said of him: "He's one of the good guys. He is big, bearded and wonderfully jovial. If you met him, you would think he was a choirmaster. He loves cooking—he's done the
Le Cordon Bleu
Le Cordon Bleu (French for " The Blue Ribbon") is an international network of hospitality and culinary schools teaching French ''haute cuisine''. Its educational focuses are hospitality management, culinary arts, and gastronomy. The instituti ...
exams—and it's great fun to sit with him in the kitchen while he prepares a meal and see that he's as happy as a clam. He has these old-fashioned manners, a courtliness you associate with the South."
In his first major interview in 43 years, to ''
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 ...
'' in 2019 to promote ''
Cari Mora'', he revealed himself to be a nature lover, and a long-time visitor and volunteer of the Pelican Harbor Seabird Station, an animal rescue center in Miami, Florida for 20 years. The staff were not aware of who Harris was until a few years prior to when the interview was conducted.
He described fame as "more of a nuisance than anything else".
Approach to writing and critical reception
Fellow novelist
Stephen King
Stephen Edwin King (born September 21, 1947) is an American author of horror, supernatural fiction, suspense, crime, science-fiction, and fantasy novels. Described as the "King of Horror", a play on his surname and a reference to his high s ...
remarked that if writing is sometimes tedious for other authors, to Harris it is like "writhing on the floor in agonies of frustration", because for Harris, "the very act of writing is a kind of torment". Novelist
John Dunning said of Harris, "All he is is a talent of the first rank." In 2019, he elaborated on his process, as well as the difficulty, describing it as "passive
.. sometimes you really have to shove and grunt and sweat. Some days you go to your office and you're the only one who shows up, none of the characters show up, and you sit there by yourself, feeling like an idiot. And some days everybody shows up ready to work. You have to show up at your office every day. If an idea comes by, you want to be there to get it in."
Bibliography
*''
Black Sunday'' (1975)
*''
Cari Mora'' (2019)
Dr. Hannibal Lecter
Dr. Hannibal Lecter is a Character (arts), fictional character created by the novelist Thomas Harris. Lecter is a serial killer who Human cannibalism, eats his victims. Before his capture, he was a respected Forensic psychiatry, forensic psychi ...
#''
Red Dragon'' (1981)
#''
The Silence of the Lambs'' (1988)
#''
Hannibal
Hannibal (; xpu, 𐤇𐤍𐤁𐤏𐤋, ''Ḥannibaʿl''; 247 – between 183 and 181 BC) was a Carthaginian general and statesman who commanded the forces of Carthage in their battle against the Roman Republic during the Second Puni ...
'' (1999)
#''
Hannibal Rising
''Hannibal Rising'' is a psychological horror novel by American author Thomas Harris, published in 2006. It is a prequel to his three previous books featuring his most famous character, the cannibalistic serial killer Dr. Hannibal Lecter. The ...
'' (2006)
Filmography
* ''
Hannibal Rising
''Hannibal Rising'' is a psychological horror novel by American author Thomas Harris, published in 2006. It is a prequel to his three previous books featuring his most famous character, the cannibalistic serial killer Dr. Hannibal Lecter. The ...
'' (2007; screenplay)
See also
*
''Hannibal Lecter'' (franchise)
References
Sources
*
*
*
* Dunning, John. ''Booked to Die''. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1992.
*
*
* Sexton, David. ''The Strange World of Thomas Harris''. London: Short Books, 2001.
*
External links
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Harris, Thomas
1940s births
Living people
American crime fiction writers
American male novelists
American thriller writers
American psychological fiction writers
Baylor University alumni
Hannibal Lecter (franchise)
People from Jackson, Tennessee
People from Coahoma County, Mississippi
Writers from New York City
Novelists from Tennessee
Anthony Award winners
American male screenwriters
20th-century American novelists
21st-century American novelists
Novelists from New York (state)
Screenwriters from New York (state)
Screenwriters from Mississippi
20th-century American male writers
21st-century American male writers
Year of birth missing (living people)