Ted Lewis (writer)
Ted Lewis (15 January 1940 – 1982) was a British writer.
He was born in Manchester, an only child. After World War II the family moved to Barton-upon-Humber in 1947.[1] He had a strict upbringing and his parents did not want their son to go to art school, but Ted's English teacher Henry Treece, recognising his creative talents in writing and art, persuaded them not to stand in his way.
Lewis attended Hull Art School for four years. His first work was in London, in advertising, and then as an animation specialist in television and films (among them the Beatles' Yellow Submarine). His first novel, All the Way Home and All the Night Through was published in 1965, followed by Jack's Return Home, subsequently retitled Get Carter after the success of the film of the same name starring Michael Caine, which created the noir school of British crime writing and pushed Lewis into the best-seller list. After the collapse of his marriage Lewis returned to his home town[2] in the 1970s.[3]
Ted Lewis died in 1982 having published seven more novels and written several episodes for the television series Z-Cars. Doctor Who Producer Graham Williams who had worked with Lewis on Z-Cars commissioned a script entitled The Doppelgangers in 1978 from Lewis. However, the script was formally rejected on 11 January 1979 and never put into production.[4]
Books
- All the Way Home and All the Night Through (1965)
- Jack's Return Home (1970) (paperback published in 1971 as Carter. Later re-published as Get Carter)
- Plender (1971)
- Billy Rags (1973)
- Jack Carter's Law (1974)
- The Rabbit (1975)
- Boldt (1976)
- Jack Carter and the Mafia Pigeon (1977)
- GBH (1980)
Films
- Jack's Return Home has been filmed three times:
- Get Carter (1971) with Michael Caine
- Hit Man (1972) with Bernie Casey and Pam Grier
- Get Carter (2000) with Sylvester Stallone
- Plender has been adapted as a French film:
- Le Serpent (2007) directed by Eric Barbier[5]
References
External links
- Ted Lewis at the Internet Movie Database
- TW Books
- The Best Thriller
- Short biography at the Wayback Machine (archived February 1, 2012)
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