---
name: "Donn Pearce"
canonical: "https://film.one/person/donn-pearce"
fi1m_id: "donn-pearce"
imdb_id: "nm0668914"
tmdb_id: 13860
wikidata_id: "Q3036756"
roles: ["Writer"]
born: "28 September 1928"
died: "25 July 2017"
reviewed_on_fi1m: 1
average_as: "writer"
average_over: 1
updated: "2026-09-26T16:20:17.380387+00:00"
licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL."
---

# Donn Pearce

## Identity

Donn Pearce

- **Canonical:** https://film.one/person/donn-pearce
- **Type:** Person
- **Fi1m ID:** donn-pearce
- **IMDb ID:** nm0668914
- **TMDB ID:** 13860
- **Wikidata ID:** Q3036756
- **Same entity:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donn_Pearce, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q3036756, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0668914/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/13860

Writer. Born 28 September 1928 in Croydon. Died 25 July 2017.

## Details

- **Work:** Writer
- **Born:** 28 September 1928, Croydon
- **Died:** 25 July 2017
- **Academy Awards:** 1 Oscar nomination
- **Elsewhere:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donn_Pearce, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q3036756, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0668914/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/13860

## 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.

*Sources: en.wikipedia.org, imdb.com.*

## On Fi1m (1)

- *Cool Hand Luke* (1967), Fi1m 84, as Sailor (uncredited) — [page](https://film.one/film/cool-hand-luke.md)

## Complete filmography (2)

Every credit, newest first. Titles without a page can be requested for review on the HTML page.

- *Love for Rent* (1979), Story
- *Cool Hand Luke* (1967), as Sailor (uncredited) · Novel, Screenplay — Fi1m 84, [page](https://film.one/film/cool-hand-luke.md)

## Awards

### Academy Awards — 0 won, 1 nominated

- 1968: Best Writing, Adapted Screenplay (nominated), for *Cool Hand Luke*

*From Wikidata, which records wins more completely than nominations.*

---
© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/person/donn-pearce