Lowell Cauffiel

Last updated
Lowell Cauffiel
BornLowell Joseph Cauffiel
Michigan
Occupation
  • Journalist
  • author
  • screenwriter
LanguageEnglish
CitizenshipU.S.
GenreNon-fiction, fiction
SubjectCrime
Notable worksHouse of Secrets
ChildrenJohn Cauffiel, son
Relatives Jessica Cauffiel, daughter
Website
lowellcauffiel.com

Lowell Joseph Cauffiel is an American true crime author, novelist, screenwriter and film and television producer.

Contents

Life and career

Cauffiel was born in Michigan, the son of Ursula Irene (née Zulka), a Polish-American community leader, and Lowell Cauffiel, an aeronautical engineer and entrepreneur. [1] A journalism graduate of Wayne State University, Cauffiel began his writing career as a contributor to music magazines, including Rolling Stone , Creem and Guitar Player . He went on to become an award-winning reporter with the Detroit News and Detroit Monthly Magazine.

Cauffiel began his bookwriting career in 1988 with Masquerade: A True Story of Seduction, Compulsion and Murder. That title and the 1997 New York Times bestseller House of Secrets [2] have appeared on critics' lists of the best works in American true crime. Thematically, Cauffiel's books often explore how people embrace popular trends and exalt American values to hide their own dark intentions and destructive acts.

In the mid-1990s, Cauffiel wrote three fiction titles. He performed as a blues guitarist with the Progressive Blues Band in Motor City nightclubs and concerts.

The New York Times 1988 review called Cauffiel's book Masquerade an "excellent account of one man's flirtation with a twilight zone of his own making." [3]

In 2002, Cauffiel began writing and producing crime documentaries. In 2003, he relocated from Michigan to Los Angeles to write for film and create series television. He's developed film and television projects with, among others, Billy Crystal, David Schwimmer, Michael Medavoy, Kiefer Sutherland, Kathryn Morris and Michael Douglas. In 2023, Arcade Crime Wise published Cauffiel's first book in more than two decades, the crime novel Below the Line,which Cauffiel says is loosely based on his experiences with Detroit homicide detectives and the rigors of the film and television industry.

Cauffiel is a surfer and motorcyclist. He has worked in alcohol and drug rehabilitation as a volunteer and headed a research grant about alcohol problems among young people for the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) for the National Institutes of Health. He's the co-founder of Primary Purpose Productions, a non-profit production company that creates short films about addicts and alcoholics in recovery. Cauffiel's directing debut with Primary Purpose, Men In A Box, starring Kurtwood Smith, was a selection at several American film festivals.

His daughter is actress Jessica Cauffiel. [4] His son, John, under the stage name Johnny Coolati, is the lead guitarist and singer for the Brooklyn-based rock trio Call of the Wild, signed to Kemado Records.

Novels

Non-fiction

Filmography

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Patricia Highsmith</span> American novelist and short story writer

Patricia Highsmith was an American novelist and short story writer widely known for her psychological thrillers, including her series of five novels featuring the character Tom Ripley.

<i>The Bourne Identity</i> (novel) 1980 spy novel by Robert Ludlum

The Bourne Identity is a 1980 spy fiction thriller by Robert Ludlum that tells the story of Jason Bourne, a man with remarkable survival abilities who has retrograde amnesia, and must seek to discover his true identity. In the process, he must also determine why several shadowy groups, a professional assassin, and the CIA want him dead. It is the first novel of the original Bourne Trilogy, which also includes The Bourne Supremacy and The Bourne Ultimatum.

Louis Del Grande is a Canadian-American television writer and actor. He is best known for starring in the Canadian mystery/comedy series Seeing Things.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Gilmore (writer)</span> American journalist (1935–2016)

John "Jonathan" Gilmore was an American author and gonzo journalist known for iconoclastic Hollywood memoirs, true crime literature and hard-boiled fiction.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jessica Cauffiel</span> American actress and singer

Jessica Cauffiel is an American actress and singer. She is best known for her roles as Margot in Legally Blonde (2001) and Tori in White Chicks (2004). She is also known as a scream queen for her roles in the slasher films Urban Legends: Final Cut (2000) and Valentine (2001), as Sandra and Lily, respectively.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gwendolyn Graham and Cathy Wood</span> American serial killer duo

Gwendolyn Gail Graham and Catherine May Wood are American serial killers convicted of killing five elderly women in Walker, Michigan, a suburb of Grand Rapids, in 1987. They committed their crimes in the Alpine Manor nursing home, where they both worked as nurse's aides.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Laura Ziskin</span> American film and television producer (1950–2011)

Laura Ellen Ziskin was an American film producer, known as the executive producer of Pretty Woman (1990) and producer of Spider-Man (2002), Spider-Man 2 (2004), Spider-Man 3 (2007), The Amazing Spider-Man and The Amazing Spider-Man 2. She was also the first woman to produce the Academy Awards telecast alone, producing the 74th Academy Awards (2002) and the 79th Academy Awards (2007).

Benedict Richard Pierce Macintyre is a British author, reviewer and columnist for The Times newspaper. His columns range from current affairs to historical controversies.

Nancy Laura Savoca is an American film director, producer, and screenwriter.

Russell Rouse was an American screenwriter, director, and producer who is noted for the "offbeat creativity and originality" of his screenplays and for film noir movies and television episodes produced in the 1950s.

Ursula Nordstrom was publisher and editor-in-chief of juvenile books at Harper & Row from 1940 to 1973. She is credited with presiding over a transformation in children's literature in which morality tales written for adult approval gave way to works that instead appealed to children's imaginations and emotions.

<i>The Lost One</i> 1951 film by Peter Lorre

The Lost One is a 1951 West German drama film directed by Peter Lorre and starring Lorre, Karl John and Renate Mannhardt. It is an art film in the film noir style, based on a true story. Lorre wrote, directed, and starred in this film, his only film as director or writer. The film's translated name has been used as the title of his biography.

James Richard Hougan is an American author, investigative reporter and documentary film producer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jeff Benedict</span> American journalist

Jeff Benedict is an American author, a special features writer for Sports Illustrated, and a television and film producer. He has written for The New York Times and the Los Angeles Times, and his stories have been the basis for segments on 60 Minutes, 20/20, CBS Sunday Morning, CBS Evening News, the NFL Network, HBO Real Sports, Good Morning America, 48 Hours, and the Discovery Channel.

Stephen Schiff is an American screenwriter, producer, and journalist. He is best known for his work at The New Yorker and Vanity Fair, his screenplays for Lolita, True Crime, and Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps, and his work as a writer and producer on the FX television series The Americans.

Kensington Communications is a Toronto-based production company that specializes in documentary films and documentary/factual television series. Founded in 1980 by president Robert Lang, Kensington Communications Inc. has produced over 250 productions from documentary series and films to performing arts and children's specials. Since 1998, Kensington has also been involved in multi-platform interactive projects for the web and mobile devices.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Robert Lang (producer)</span> Canadian film producer, director, and writer

Robert Lang is a Canadian film producer, director, and writer. His career began in Montreal in the early 70s working on independent productions and at the National Film Board of Canada as a documentary film director and cinematographer. In 1980, he moved to Toronto, where he founded his own independent production company, Kensington Communications, to produce documentaries for television and non-theatrical markets. Since 1998, Lang has been involved in conceiving and producing interactive media for the Web and mobile devices.

Felicia Mason is an African-American novelist and journalist born in Aliquippa, Pennsylvania, United States. She is best known for writing in the romance genre. Her novel Rhapsody was adapted into a television movie in 2000.

Cauffiel is a surname. Notable people with the surname include:

References

  1. "Ursula Irene Cauffiel (Zulka)", Poles.org
  2. "October 11, 1998: Best Sellers Plus". The New York Times. October 11, 1998. Retrieved December 18, 2012.
  3. Ross, Michael E. (October 9, 1988). "Crime/Mystery: In Short; Nonfiction". The New York Times.
  4. Derek Armstrong (2010). "Jessica Cauffiel: Full biography". Movies & TV Dept. The New York Times . Archived from the original on January 11, 2013. Retrieved December 18, 2012.