Frederic Wakeman, Sr. (1909-October 26, 1998) was an American novelist, best known for his best-selling 1946 novel The Hucksters, which was made into the 1947 film of the same name. [1] He was the father of East Asian history scholar Frederic Evans Wakeman Jr..
He also wrote the novels Shore Leave (adapted into the 1945 Broadway play Kiss Them for Me and 1957 film Kiss Them for Me ), The Wastrel (adapted to film in 1961), and The Saxon Charm (adopted to a film of the same name in 1948). [1]
Wakeman worked in the advertising industry until leaving Lord & Thomas to serve in the United States Navy in the Pacific from 1942 to 1943. [2] Recovering in a naval hospital, he wrote his first novel, Shore Leave (1944), basing the character of Andy Crewson on an actual decorated naval aviator, [3] [4]
The Hucksters (1946) spent 35 weeks in the top stratum of The New York Times Fiction bestseller list, [5] aided perhaps by its raunchy, racy controversy. Life magazine called the book "last year's best-selling travesty" [6] and even Clark Gable, who would eventually star in its film adaptation, said "It's filthy and it isn't entertainment." [7] Life's and Gable's literary sensibilities to the contrary, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer paid $200,000 for the motion picture rights before the novel was even published. [7]
Wakeman had three children by his first marriage, including Frederic Evans Wakeman Jr.. Wakeman's second wife was Greek actress Ellie Lambeti, from 1959 to 1976. [8] [9]