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John "Jonathan" Gilmore (born July 5, 1935 in Los Angeles, California) is an American novelist and journalist.
John Gilmore was born in the Charity Ward of the Los Angeles County General Hospital and was raised in Hollywood. His mother had been a studio contract-player for MGM while his step-grandfather worked as head carpenter for RKO studios. Gilmore's parents separated when he was six months old and Gilmore spent the next few years raised by his grandmother. Gilmore's father, a frustrated actor, became a Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) officer, wrote and acted on radio shows, a police public service (the shows featured promising movie starlets as well as established performers like Bonita Granville, Ann Rutherford, the "jungle girl" Aquanetta, Joan Davis, Hillary Brooke, Ann Jeffreys, Brenda Marshall and other players young John Gilmore became acquainted with. As a child actor, he appeared in a Gene Autry movie and bit parts at Republic Studios. Gilmore says, "You saw a horse galloping past and then some kid standing in the dust. That was me." He worked in LAPD safety films and did stints on radio. Eventually he appeared in commercial films. Actors Ida Lupino and John Hodiak were mentors to Gilmore, who worked in numerous television shows and feature films at Warner Bros., 20th Century Fox, and Universal International studios. During the 1950s, and through John Hodiak, Gilmore sustained an acquaintanceship with Marilyn Monroe in Hollywood, then in New York, where Gilmore was involved with the Actors Studio, transcribing the lectures of Lee Strasberg into book form. Gilmore performed on stage and in live TV, wrote poetry and screenplays, directed two experimental plays, one by Jean Genet, then wrote and directed a low-budget film but eventually settled into a writing career; journalist, true crime writer and novelist. He served as head of the writing program at Antioch University and has taught and lectured at length.
Part of the "Beat Generation," while living in New York City in the Spring of 1953, a mutual friend introduced Gilmore to actor James Dean. Gilmore and Dean became good friends and after he returned home to Hollywood, they renewed their friendship, riding motorcycles together with a select group of friends in leather jackets referred to as the "Night Watch." Gilmore was around Dean at the time the young star was making the film, Rebel Without a Cause, and both were friends with Eartha Kitt. In his first book on Dean, The Real James Dean, published in 1976, Gilmore caused considerable controversy when he stated that their friendship involved an experimentation with bisexuality. In 1997, Gilmore wrote a second, more detailed book on his relationship with James Dean, entitled Live Fast, Die Young: Remembering the Short Life of James Dean.
After writing a series of sexy action pulp novels in the 1960s under the pseudonym Neil Egri and Mort Gillian, in 1970 Gilmore published The Tucson Murders, Dial Press, New York, a hardcover nonfiction true crime detailing the life and crimes of Charles Schmid, the "notorious pied piper of Tucson." Following this, Gilmore published his second nonfiction, The Garbage People, a hardcover exploration into the lives of Charles Manson and the Family. A few years before the so-called Manson Murders, and while an actor, Gilmore met actress Sharon Tate at 20th Century Fox studios. Writing on his website [http://www.johngilmore.com/Celebrities/salmineo.html about Sal Mineo, Gilmore says of Dean's other co-stars in Rebel Without A Cause that Dean avoided both Nick Adams and Natalie Wood and that "once off the set, he went out of his way to go in the opposite direction." Also a friend of another Rebel co-star, Dennis Hopper, Gilmore hung out with him in Hollywood and also in New York City.
Later in the 1950s, John Gilmore spent time in Paris, France where he met William S. Burroughs and wrote a novel that was opted by Henry Miller's publisher, Olympia Press. Gilmore frequented the Beat Hotel, and sustained friendships with novelist Francoise Sagan and movie star Brigitte Bardot. Gilmore's novel for Olympia, however, was not released until 1994 when an American publisher acquired the rights, with the encouragement of William Burroughs. Gilmore says, "The novel underwent a number of changes in those decades but the guts remained the same." John Gilmore published his first account on 60s cult leader and convicted murderer, Charles Manson in 1971 titled The Garbage People. Modestly successful, it gained a much larger audience through a 1996 re-release, and, as most of Gilmore's books, remains in print. In 1994, Gilmore wrote a book that chronicled the famous Black Dahlia unsolved homicide. Occurring in 1947, at a time when his father was on the police force, Gilmore's book Severed: The True Story of the Black Dahlia Murder earned him wide recognition. According to the Publishers Weekly review, in the book "Gilmore presents evidence that strengthens the LAPD's case against chief suspect Jack Wilson, a reclusive, alcoholic burglar and possible serial killer." Marilyn Manson, who made paintings based on photos from the book, said: "SEVERED is my favorite book... John Gilmore is my favorite writer. It has been my desire to direct SEVERED as a movie ... my directorial debut ...". Despite Manson's wish, it was director David Lynch who acquired the screen rights. Colin Wilson says of Gilmore's SEVERED: "The best book on the Black Dahlia--in fact, the only reliable book."
John Gilmore's second 1996 release received praise from the New York Times Book Review for his story on the life and crimes of multiple murderer, Charles Schmid. In 1997's "Laid Bare," his first book of memoirs, Gilmore recounts his associations beginning in the 1950s and through the 1960s with Janis Joplin, Jack Nicholson, Jane Fonda, Dennis Hopper, Brigitte Bardot, Jean Seberg, Steve McQueen, Irish McCalla, Jayne Mansfield, and other personalities.
Married and divorced three times, John Gilmore has a son and daughter, Ursula and Carson, is currently single, living in the Hollywood hills of Los Angeles. Frequently interviewed in the press and appearing on documentaries, Gilmore is described as a noir cult figure, a "cultural icon," with two new books released in 2005, and two more expected for 2006. His work is published internationally and he is currently focusing on an in-depth "personal journey" into the short life of Marilyn Monroe.
Kern News, Gilmore wrote a book on Charles Manson, THE GARBAGE PEOPLE. He never even gave a copy to Manson, but I sent one to him. Manson wanted to know Gilmore's address because of the stories he claims Gilmore made up. Gilmore wrote a headline story for my newspaper THE HOLLYWOOD STAR stating "he had had sex with James Dean." He said it was something he had left out of his first Dean book. (His first ex-wife told me that if she hadn't re-written the book, it would never have been published.) Aslo when I ventured to see his publisher, an employee told me a girl who had dated Gilmore for over two years, said he had never mentioned knowing James Dean. After Gilmore's story on- sex with James Dean was published- he wanted to start a phoney lawsuit for publicity, stating he hadn't written the story, that it was made-up. He did the typesetting, layouts, etc. It was printed from the layouts "he had composed.' Afterwards he sent some clippings to his file at UCLA stating he was ME and that I had requested they be put into his file. He also began phoning different venues stating he was working for the Hollywood Star to get free press passes. In one of his books he claims to have lived with Dennis Hopper on three occasions. Dennis said he knew Gilmore but that they had never lived together and he wasn't going to sue him because he would only sell more books. Dean's friend, Jack Simmons said Gilmore used to wait outside of his apartment, then wanting to be introduced to James Dean. When approached on this, Gilmore said he knew James Dean in New York, prior to Dean moving to Hollywood. Gilmore claims Jimmy avoided contact with Nick Adams, The REBEL tv series. Well, Nick and Jimmy built a car together, shared an apartment and did a Pepsi commercial together. They were best friends. In my opinion, he is a clever writer. He names places and situations that many people were aware of, and then inserts his stories. They say, "Well, I remember those other things, so this must be true too." Success in films passed him by but he still seems to be making a living writing stories.
Bibliography:
- Dark Obsession (1963)
- Strange Fire (1963)
- The Tucson Murders (1970)
- The Garbage People (1971)
- The Real James Dean (1976)
- Severed: The True Story of the Black Dahlia Murder (1994)
- Cold-Blooded: The Saga of Charles Schmid, the Notorious "Pied Piper of Tucson" (1996)
- Laid Bare: A Memoir of Wrecked Lives and the Hollywood Death Trip (1997)
- Live Fast-Die Young: Remembering the Short Life of James Dean (1997) (Can be read at Amazon.com
- Fetish Blonde (1998)
- Manson: The Unholy Trail of Charlie and the Family (2000)
- Hollywood Boulevard (2004)
- L.A. Despair: A Landscape of Crimes & Bad Times (2005)
- Crazy Streak (2005)
External links
- John Gilmore official website
- Book reviews of Gilmore's works
- Interview with Bizarre magazine
- The John Gilmore Papers, U.C.L.A. Special Collections
- John Gilmore Interview on James Dean
- Gilmore IMDb Jonathan Gilmore