Biography
Michael McDowell was an American novelist and screenwriter. Born on 1 June 1950 in Enterprise, Alabama, he earned a BA and MA from Harvard University and a PhD in English from Brandeis University in 1978. He died on 27 December 1999 in Boston, Massachusetts.
McDowell wrote or co-wrote more than thirty novels, many in the horror genre, including the Blackwater series and The Elementals. His screen credits include the story and screenplay for Beetlejuice (1988), adaptation work on The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993), the screenplay for Thinner (1996), and episodes of Tales from the Darkside and Tales from the Crypt.
He lived with theatre historian and director Laurence Senelick for thirty years. McDowell was noted for his collection of items related to death customs and was described by Stephen King as the finest writer of paperback originals in America at the time.
