Willingham, Calder

(1922–1995)

   Calder Willingham was an American novelist, born on December 23, 1922, in Atlanta, Georgia, the son of Eleanor Churchill and Calder Baynard Willingham, a hotel manager. He was educated at the Citadel in South Carolina (1940–1941) and at the University of Virginia (1941–1943). His first novel, drawn from his experience at the Citadel, End as a Man (1947) was successful enough to bring Willingham to Hollywood in 1957 to write the screenplay for the novel’s adaptation, retitled The Strange One. STANLEY KUBRICK then asked Willingham to adapt Stefan Zweig’s story “The Burning Secret” to the screen. Although that screenplay was never filmed, Kubrick turned to Willingham again to adapt HUMPHREY COBB’s PATHS OF GLORY, working with JIM THOMPSON. Willingham’s later work as screenwriter included ONE-EYED JACKS (1961), The Graduate (1967, with Buck Henry), and Little Big Man (1970, for Arthur Penn).

   References

   ■ Millichap, Joseph, “Calder Willingham,” in American Screenwriters: Second Series, ed. Randall Clark. (Detroit, Mich. : Gale Research, 1986), pp. 416–419.

   J. M. W.