Thomas Thompson (American author)
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Thomas Thompson ( Thomas Van Thompson; October 3, 1933 – October 29, 1982) was a journalist and author.


Career

Thompson was born in
Fort Worth, Texas Fort Worth is the fifth-largest city in the U.S. state of Texas and the 13th-largest city in the United States. It is the county seat of Tarrant County, covering nearly into four other counties: Denton, Johnson, Parker, and Wise. According ...
, to Clarence Arnold Thompson (1897–1983) and Ruth Oswalt (1904–1983). He graduated from the
University of Texas The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 1883 and is the oldest institution in the University of Texas System. With 40,916 undergraduate students, 11,075 ...
in 1955. He then worked as a reporter and editor at the ''
Houston Press The ''Houston Press'' is an online newspaper published in Houston, Texas, United States. It is headquartered in the Midtown area. It was also a weekly print newspaper until November 2017. The publication is supported entirely by advertising ...
''. Thompson joined ''
Life Life is a quality that distinguishes matter that has biological processes, such as signaling and self-sustaining processes, from that which does not, and is defined by the capacity for growth, reaction to stimuli, metabolism, energ ...
'' magazine in 1961 and became an editor and staff writer. While at ''Life'' he covered the
JFK assassination John Fitzgerald Kennedy (May 29, 1917 – November 22, 1963), often referred to by his initials JFK and the nickname Jack, was an American politician who served as the 35th president of the United States from 1961 until his assassination i ...
and was the first writer to locate
Lee Harvey Oswald Lee Harvey Oswald (October 18, 1939 – November 24, 1963) was a U.S. Marine veteran who assassinated John F. Kennedy, the 35th president of the United States, on November 22, 1963. Oswald was placed in juvenile detention at the age of 12 fo ...
's home and wife. Among his stories were coverage of the making of '' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band'' by the
Beatles The Beatles were an English rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960, that comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are regarded as the most influential band of all time and were integral to the developme ...
, in which he revealed the group's extensive drug use; an in-depth look at
Frank Sinatra Francis Albert Sinatra (; December 12, 1915 – May 14, 1998) was an American singer and actor. Nicknamed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Chairman of the Board" and later called "Ol' Blue Eyes", Sinatra was one of the most popular ...
and his alleged
Mafia "Mafia" is an informal term that is used to describe criminal organizations that bear a strong similarity to the original “Mafia”, the Sicilian Mafia and Italian Mafia. The central activity of such an organization would be the arbitration of d ...
ties; and the 40th and 50th birthdays of
Elizabeth Taylor Dame Elizabeth Rosemond Taylor (February 27, 1932 – March 23, 2011) was a British-American actress. She began her career as a child actress in the early 1940s and was one of the most popular stars of classical Hollywood cinema in the 1950s. ...
. His book ''Hearts'' (1971) concerned the rivalry between Houston surgeons
Michael DeBakey Michael Ellis DeBakey (September 7, 1908 – July 11, 2008) was a Lebanese-American general and cardiovascular surgeon, scientist and medical educator who became Chairman of the Department of Surgery, President, and Chancellor of Baylor College ...
and
Denton Cooley Denton Arthur Cooley (August 22, 1920 – November 18, 2016) was an American heart and cardiothoracic surgeon famous for performing the first implantation of a total artificial heart. Cooley was also the founder and surgeon in-chief of The T ...
at the dawn of the
heart transplant A heart transplant, or a cardiac transplant, is a surgical transplant procedure performed on patients with end-stage heart failure or severe coronary artery disease when other medical or surgical treatments have failed. , the most common proce ...
era. ''Richie: The Ultimate Tragedy Between One Decent Man and the Son He Loved'' (1973) was the story of a Long Island man who killed his drug-addicted son. This was made into a TV-movie called ''
The Death of Richie ''The Death of Richie'' is a 1977 American made-for-television drama film based on ''Richie'', a non-fiction book by Thomas Thompson about the 1972 death of George Richard "Richie" Diener Jr. at the hands of his father, who was ultimately not ch ...
''. Thompson's most successful book, ''Lost!'' (1975), was his account of the true story of two men and one woman who were lost at sea after a storm in the Pacific. Thompson's ''Lost!'' was retold in the made-for-TV movie ''
Lost! "Lost!" is a song by the British Rock music, rock band Coldplay. It was co-produced with Brian Eno and Markus Dravs for the band's fourth album, ''Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends''. The song was released on 10 November 2008 as the t ...
'' in 1986. ''Blood and Money'' (1976) was based on a true story of scandal and the murders of Houston socialite
Joan Robinson Hill Joan Olive Robinson Hill (February 6, 1931 – March 19, 1969) was a socialite and equestrian from Houston, Texas. Her unexplained death at age 38 led to her husband, John Hill, becoming the first person to be indicted by the state of Texas on th ...
and her husband John Hill, and the alleged involvement of Mrs. Hill's father, Ash Robinson, a wealthy Texas oil magnate. The book sold four million copies in fourteen languages. There were three lawsuits against Thompson after the book's publication. Ann Kurth, John Hill's second wife, sued Thompson for his description of her as a "sex bomb". Kurth's suit and that of a
Longview, Texas Longview is a city in the U.S. state of Texas, and county seat of Gregg County, Texas, Gregg County; a small part of Longview extends into the western portion of neighboring Harrison County, Texas, Harrison County. Longview is located in East Tex ...
police officer, were both dismissed. Ash Robinson, the father of Joan Robinson Hill, also sued Thompson for his portrayal in the book; Robinson was unsuccessful in his suit against Thompson. Robinson had been allowed to read the book prior to its publication and initially said he approved of what Thompson had written about him. His only criticism was that he believed the book was too long. Thompson's publishers withheld his royalties until all suits connected with the book were settled. Thompson also wrote ''Serpentine'' (1979), the story of convicted murderer
Charles Sobhraj Charles Sobhraj (born Hotchand Bhawnani Gurmukh Sobhraj, 6 April 1944) is a French serial killer, fraudster, and thief of Indian-Vietnamese descent, who preyed on Western tourists travelling on the hippie trail of South Asia during the 1970s. ...
. Thompson wrote one novel, ''Celebrity'' (1982), which was on the national best-seller list for six months. That novel became the basis for a five-hour mini series in 1984. Thompson received the National Headliner Award for investigative reporting. He was also the 1977
Edgar Award The Edgar Allan Poe Awards, popularly called the Edgars, are presented every year by the Mystery Writers of America, based in New York City. Named after American writer Edgar Allan Poe (1809–1849), a pioneer in the genre, the awards honor the bes ...
winner for ''Blood and Money''. Thompson's family believed that the liver disease that caused his death was contracted in the Far East while investigating the Charles Sobhraj saga. When he became ill, Thompson was teaching writing at the
University of Southern California The University of Southern California (USC, SC, or Southern Cal) is a Private university, private research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Founded in 1880 by Robert M. Widney, it is the oldest private research university in C ...
. Among his survivors were two sons, Kirk and Scott.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Thompson, Thomas 1933 births 1982 deaths 20th-century American novelists American male novelists American mystery writers American male journalists 20th-century American journalists University of Texas at Austin alumni University of Southern California faculty Deaths from cancer 20th-century American male writers 20th-century American non-fiction writers