Biography
Donn Pearce was an American author and journalist. Born Donald Mills Pearce in Croydon, Pennsylvania, in 1928, he left home as a teenager and worked in the Merchant Marine and as a safecracker before serving time on a Florida chain gang in the late 1940s and early 1950s. His experiences there formed the basis of his debut novel Cool Hand Luke, published in 1965.
Pearce wrote the screenplay for the 1967 film adaptation starring Paul Newman, for which he received an Academy Award nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay. He also appeared in a small role as a convict. His other books include Pier Head Jump (1972), Dying in the Sun (1974) and Nobody Comes Back (2005). He worked as a freelance journalist for magazines including Playboy and Esquire, and later as a private investigator. Pearce died in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, in 2017.
