24.07.1916 - 28.12.1986 (70 years)
John Dann MacDonald (July 24, 1916 – December 28, 1986) was an American writer of novels and short stories, known for his thrillers. MacDonald was a prolific author of crime and suspense novels, many of them set in his adopted home of Florida. One of the most successful American novelists of his time, MacDonald sold an estimated 70 million books in his career. His best-known works include the popular and critically acclaimed Travis McGee series, and his novel The Executioners, which was filmed as Cape Fear (1962) and remade in 1991. In 1972, the Mystery Writers of America bestowed upon MacDonald its very highest honor, the Grand Master Award for lifetime achievement and consistent quality. When the U.S. book publishing industry responded to criticism of the National Book Awards as run by insiders by replacing them in 1980 with a voting academy of 2,000, it honored MacDonald during its elaborate television production entitled The American Book Awards in that only year containing the Mystery category. Stephen King praised MacDonald as "the great entertainer of our age, and a mesmerizing storyteller." Kingsley Amis said, MacDonald "is by any standards a better writer than Saul Bellow, only MacDonald writes thrillers and Bellow is a human-heart chap, so guess who wears the top-grade laurels."