Brian Garfield

His best-known works includes Death Wish (1972), which launched a lucrative franchise when it was adapted into the 1974 film of the same title.

• Name — Brian Garfield • Birth Name — Brian Francis Wynne Garfield • Born — 26 January 1939 • Birthplace — New York City, U.S. • Died — 29 December 2018 • Place of death — Pasadena, California, U.S. • Occupation — Novelist, screenwriter • Notable Works — Death Wish, Hopscotch • Awards — 1976 Edgar Award for Best Novel

Garfield was born in New York City, the son of George Garfield and Frances O'Brien, a portrait artist and friend of Georgia O'Keeffe. O'Keeffe had introduced the pair. He was the nephew of chorus dancer and stage manager Chester O'Brien, and a distant relative of Mark Twain. He graduated from Southern Arizona School for Boys in Tucson.

A guitarist, in the 1950s Garfield toured with a band called the Palisades, who released a single on the Calico label. He served in the U.S. Army and the Army Reserves from 1957 to 1965. He attended the University of Arizona, from which he received a bachelor's degree in English in 1959 and master's degree in English in 1963. His first novel, Range Justice, written when he was eighteen, was published in 1960. By the end of the following decade, he had published sixty novels. Once he turned fifty, Garfield continued to publish, but at a less prolific rate. In 1972 he published Death Wish, which was adapted into the film of the same title. Four movie sequels followed, all starring Charles Bronson in the lead role. Bruce Willis starred in a 2018 remake. Garfield was directly involved only in the original movie. He wrote a sequel, Death Sentence (1975), which was very loosely adapted into the 2007 film of the same name. While the film had a different storyline, it adopted the novel's critical perspective on vigilantism. Hopscotch, also published in 1975, won the Edgar Award for Best Novel. Garfield wrote the screenplay for the 1980 film adaptation starring Walter Matthau, Glenda Jackson and Sam Waterston. In 1970, Garfield was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for History for The Thousand-Mile War: World War II in Alaska and the Aleutians. His last book, published in 2007, was a critical biography of the controversial British intelligence officer Richard Meinertzhagen. He and his wife Bina divided their time between their homes in Pasadena, California, and Santa Fe, New Mexico. They were supporters of Wildlife WayStation, an animal sanctuary in Southern California.

Garfield died at home in Pasadena in December 2018 at the age of 79. His wife said the cause was complications of Parkinson's disease.

• Bennett Garland • Alex Hawk • John Ives • Drew Mallory • Frank O'Brian • Jonas Ward • Brian Wynne • Frank Wynne

Credited to Brian Garfield or Brian Wynne Garfield unless otherwise indicated. • Year — Title — Author Credit — Main Character(s) — Notes • 1960 — Range Justice — Tracy Chavis — First novel set in fictional town of Spanish Flat, Arizona. Certain characters reappear in the Jeremy Six series. Abridged and reissued as Justice at Spanish Flat (1961). • 1961 — The Arizonans • Massacre Basin — Frank Wynne • 1962 — The Big Snow — Frank Wynne • The Rimfire Murders — Frank O'Brian — Contemporary mystery set in Spanish Flat. • Arizona Rider — Frank Wynne • The Lawbringers • Trail Drive • 7 Brave Men — Bennett Garland — Lancer and Magnum Books editions (1962) credited to Brian Garfield. • 1963 — Vultures in the Sun • Apache Canyon — Justin Harris • Dragoon Pass — Frank Wynne • High Storm — Bennett Garland • 1964 — The Last Outlaw — Bennett Garland — Magnum Books edition (1964) credited to Brian Garfield. • Rails West — Frank Wynne • Mr. Sixgun — Brian Wynne — Jeremy Six — First appearance of Marshall Jeremy Six. Set in Spanish Flat, with some characters from Range Justice returning. • Rio Concho — Frank Wynne • The Vanquished • 1965 — Lynch Law Canyon — Frank Wynne • The Night It Rained Bullets — Brian Wynne — Jeremy Six • 1966 — Call Me Hazard — Frank Wynne • The Lusty Breed — Frank Wynne — First chapter set in Spanish Flat; Jeremy Six appears briefly. • The Wolf Pack — Frank Wynne • The Last Bridge • Bugle & Spur — Frank O'Brian — Justin Harris — Later editions credited to Brian Garfield. • The Bravos — Brian Wynne — Jeremy Six • 1967 — The Proud Riders — Brian Wynne — Jeremy Six, Tracy Chavis • A Badge for a Badman — Brian Wynne — Jeremy Six, Tracy Chavis • Rio Chama — Bennett Garland • 1968 — Brand of the Gun — Brian Wynne — Jeremy Six • Buchanan's Gun — Jonas Ward — Tom Buchanan — Seventh novel in the Tom Buchanan series. Other Buchanan novels were written by William Ard, William R. Cox, and Robert Silverberg (as Jonas Ward). • Savage Guns — Alex Hawk • Arizona — Ballantine Books edition (1969) credited to Frank O'Brian. • 1969 — Gundown — Brian Wynne — Jeremy Six, Tracy Chavis — Filmed in 1976 as The Last Hard Men. Not to be confused with later Gun Down written by Garfield. • Big Country, Big Men — Brian Wynne — Jeremy Six — Final Jeremy Six novel written by Garfield. The last book in the series, Gunslick Territory (1973), was written by Dean Owen a.k.a. Dudley Dean McGaughey (as Brian Wynne). • 1970 — Valley of the Shadow • Sliphammer • The Hit • The Villiers Touch • 1971 — What of Terry Conniston? • Sweeny's Honor — First publication in the U.K. (Coronet, 1974) credited to Frank Wynne. • Gun Down — Reissued as The Last Hard Men as a tie-in to the film adaptation. First publication in the UK (Coronet, 1974) credited to Frank Wynne. • Deep Cover • 1972 — Death Wish — Paul Benjamin — Basis for the 1974 film (and its four sequels). • Relentless — Sam Watchman — Basis for the 1977 TV film. • Line of Succession • 1973 — Kolchak's Gold • Gangway! — Collaboration with Donald E. Westlake. • Tripwire • 1974 — The Romanov Succession • The Threepersons Hunt — Sam Watchman • 1975 — Death Sentence — Paul Benjamin — Basis for the 2007 film Death Sentence (starring Kevin Bacon and directed by James Wan), which credits Garfield but does not follow the action of the novel. • Hopscotch — Winner of the Edgar Award (Best Novel of the Year). Basis for the 1980 Hopscotch (film). Certain characters reappear in the collection Checkpoint Charlie (1981). • Act of Piracy — Frank O'Brian • Target Manhattan — Drew Mallory • 1977 — Recoil • 1978 — Fear in a Handful of Dust — John Ives — Basis for the 1984 film Fleshburn. • Wild Times — Basis for the 1980 TV mini-series. • 1979 — The Marchand Woman — John Ives • The Paladin — Collaboration with Christopher Creighton. • 1984 — Necessity • 1989 — Manifest Destiny • 1990 — Cemetery Jones and the Tombstone War — Cemetery Jones — After author William R. Cox died, Garfield finished this novel (uncredited). • 2003 — The Hit and The Marksman — The Hit was originally published in 1970. The Marksman is a novella based on an unproduced screenplay.

Collections: • Checkpoint Charlie (1981), collection of 12 short stories • Suspended Sentences (1992), collection of 8 short stories

• The Thousand-Mile War: World War II in Alaska and the Aleutians (1969) • Western Films: A Complete Guide (1982) • The Meinertzhagen Mystery: The Life and Legend of a Colossal Fraud (2007)

• The Last Hard Men (1976) - Garfield did uncredited rewrites. Based on his novel Gun Down (1971). • Hopscotch (1980) - Based on his novel. • The Stepfather (1987) - Screenplay by Donald E. Westlake, based on a story by Garfield, Westlake, and Carolyn Lefcourt.