Walter Harris (15 October 1925 – 9 May 2019) was a British author and broadcaster. He is the author of ten published novels, several volumes of poetry, numerous articles and spoken word recordings. Recordings of his interviews and broadcasts are held at the

BBC Sound Archive The BBC Sound Archive is a collection of audio recordings maintained by the BBC and founded in 1936. Its recordings date back to the late 19th century and include many rare items, including contemporary speeches by public and political figures, fo ...

and the

British Library The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom and is one of the largest libraries in the world. It is estimated to contain between 170 and 200 million items from many countries. As a legal deposit library, the British ...

Life and career

Harris joined the RAF directly from Haileybury in 1943. In Cairo he was German interpreter to Africa Korps POWs and playwright in RAF Repertory Company and news reader on the Forces Network. Post War, Harris emigrated to Brazil and wrote for two English-language newspapers until being sponsored by a major Canadian-owned public utility, Brazilian Traction, to write and present a series of English-language radio shows on Radio Nacional, Rio de Janeiro. Heading north, Harris became an accredited radio interviewer with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation in the arts and entertainment field, mainly in New York. His first interviewee was TV impresario

Ed Sullivan Edward Vincent Sullivan (September 28, 1901 – October 13, 1974) was an American television personality, impresario, sports and entertainment reporter, and syndicated columnist for the ''New York Daily News'' and the Chicago Tribune New Yor ...

. On his return to London, Harris began broadcasting for the BBC. He interviewed

Peter Cook Peter Edward Cook (17 November 1937 – 9 January 1995) was an English actor, comedian, satirist, playwright and screenwriter. He was the leading figure of the British satire boom of the 1960s, and he was associated with the anti-establishme ...

Dudley Moore Dudley Stuart John Moore CBE (19 April 193527 March 2002) was an English actor, comedian, musician and composer. Moore first came to prominence in the UK as a leading figure in the British satire boom of the 1960s. He was one of the four writ ...

Alan Bennett Alan Bennett (born 9 May 1934) is an English actor, author, playwright and screenwriter. Over his distinguished entertainment career he has received numerous awards and honours including two BAFTA Awards, four Laurence Olivier Awards, and two ...

and

Jonathan Miller Sir Jonathan Wolfe Miller CBE (21 July 1934 – 27 November 2019) was an English theatre and opera director, actor, author, television presenter, humourist and physician. After training in medicine and specialising in neurology in the late 1 ...

on the opening night of '' Beyond the Fringe,'' and many noteworthy actors, authors and stars such as Danny Kaye, John Wayne, and

W. Somerset Maugham William Somerset Maugham ( ; 25 January 1874 – 16 December 1965) was an English writer, known for his plays, novels and short stories. Born in Paris, where he spent his first ten years, Maugham was schooled in England and went to a German un ...

. He interviewed a number of thespians at various stages of their career, and representing every aspect of the theatre, for the archival record, THEATRE 60, which included interviews with Noël Coward, Albert Finney, Harold Pinter, Peter Ustinov, Peter Hall, and several others, as well as

Kenneth Tynan Kenneth Peacock Tynan (2 April 1927 – 26 July 1980) was an English theatre critic and writer. Making his initial impact as a critic at ''The Observer'', he praised Osborne's ''Look Back in Anger'' (1956), and encouraged the emerging wave of ...

representing theatre critics.

The Gramophone ''Gramophone'' is a magazine published monthly in London, devoted to classical music, particularly to reviews of recordings. It was founded in 1923 by the Scottish author Compton Mackenzie who continued to edit the magazine until 1961. It was ...

reviewed THEATRE 60 as '''arguably one of the best spoken word records ever made'.'' When

Bob Guccione Robert Charles Joseph Edward Sabatini Guccione ( ; December 17, 1930 – October 20, 2010) was an American photographer and publisher. He founded the adult magazine '' Penthouse'' in 1965. This was aimed at competing with Hugh Hefner's ''Playboy' ...

founded Penthouse, Harris contributed short stories and articles, and later became the new magazine's new motoring correspondent. At Guccione's suggestion Harris wrote his first novel ''Clovis'' published in England, France and America. Harris recalled his interview with Noël Coward in a piece for The Times in 2009 At the age of 90 Harris acquired a new job as a voice-over artist with Soho Voices. He died on 9 May 2019 at the age of 93.

Published novels

* ''Clovis'' (G.P. Putnam's & Sons: NY 1970) * ''The Mistress of Downing Street'' (Michael Joseph 1972, Corgi edition 1973) * ''Droop'' (W.H. Allen & Co 1974) * ''The Day I Died'' (W.H. Allen & Co 1974) (new edition to be published by Heresy Publishing 2012) * ''The Fifth Horseman'' (Panther Books 1976) * ''Saliva'' (W.H. Allen & Co 1977) * ''Creature from the Black Lagoon'' (1977) (novelisation of the 1954 film, written as Carl Dreadstone, UK edition as E.K. Leyton) * ''Werewolf of London'' (1977) (novelisation of the 1935 film, written as Carl Dreadstone) * ''The New Avengers: To Catch a Rat'' (Futura Publications 1977) * ''Godhead'' (Patagonia Press 2014)

Novelizations

Harris is one of the three authors who penned the six 'classic horror' novelizations credited to Carl Dreadstone and E.K. Leyton of which Harris wrote two:

Werewolf of London ''Werewolf of London'' is a 1935 horror film directed by Stuart Walker and starring Henry Hull as the titular werewolf. The supporting cast includes Warner Oland, Valerie Hobson, Lester Matthews, and Spring Byington. Jack Pierce, who is b ...

and

Creature from the Black Lagoon ''Creature from the Black Lagoon'' is a 1954 American black-and-white 3D monster horror film produced by William Alland and directed by Jack Arnold, from a screenplay by Harry Essex and Arthur Ross and a story by Maurice Zimm. It stars ...

Ramsey Campbell Ramsey Campbell (born 4 January 1946) is an English horror fiction writer, editor and critic who has been writing for well over fifty years. He is the author of over 30 novels and hundreds of short stories, many of them winners of literary awa ...

is one of the other 'Carl Dreadstones' and wrote three of the titles in the series, but the author of the sixth 'Dreadstone' title ("The Mummy") remains unknown. Harris's New Avengers tie-in ''To Catch a Rat'' was published in 1977.

External links

Walter Harris' Official Website
Obituary, The Telegraph

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Harris, Walter 1925 births 2019 deaths 20th-century British novelists 21st-century British novelists British male novelists Royal Air Force personnel of World War II 20th-century British male writers 21st-century British male writers