Rudy Wurlitzer

Rudolph "Rudy" Wurlitzer (born 1937) is an American novelist and screenwriter. His fiction includes Nog, Flats, Quake, and Slow Fade. He also wrote a non-fiction book, Hard Travel to Sacred Places, an account of his spiritual journey through Asia after the death of his 21-year-old son.

Wurlitzer was born in Texas. He has claimed that he never had the chance to enjoy the fortune created by the Wurlitzer music empire, as his father spent it. His 1969 debut novel, Nog, was acclaimed by Thomas Pynchon and was followed by Flats in 1970 and Quake, which imagines Hollywood struck by a major earthquake. 1984's Slow Fade, also dealing with Hollywood, is a portrait of an ageing, once-brilliant film director attempting to make peace with his demons and his past.

Filmography

Among his many screenplays are:

• Glen and Randa (co-written with Jim McBride), 1969
• Two-Lane Blacktop (directed by Monte Hellman), 1971
• Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid (directed by Sam Peckinpah), 1973
• Walker (directed by Alex Cox), 1987
• Candy Mountain (co-directed with Robert Frank), 1988
• Homo Faber (aka Voyager) (directed by Volker Schlöndorff), 1991
• Wind (directed by Carroll Ballard), 1992
• Little Buddha (directed by Bernardo Bertolucci), 1993

He wrote the libretto for Philip Glass' opera In The Penal Colony, and has also written four TV scripts for 100 Centre Street, directed by Sidney Lumet.

Publications

His latest novel is The Drop Edge of Yonder, released spring 2008 from Two Dollar Radio. The...
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