About

Known credits:
29
Birthday:
1928-01-01
Place of birth:
Cleveland, Ohio, USA
Website:
N/A

Ernest Tidyman

Overview

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Ernest Tidyman (January 1, 1928 - July 14, 1984) was a Cleveland-born American author and screenwriter, best known for his novels featuring the African-American detective John Shaft. He also co-wrote the screenplay for the film version of Shaft with John D.F. Black in 1971.

His screenplay for The French Connection garnered him an Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay, as well as a Golden Globe Award, a Writers Guild of America Award, and an Edgar Award.

He also wrote the screenplay for the 1973 film High Plains Drifter, which was directed by Clint Eastwood, who was also its star. Tidyman also wrote the sequel to Shaft, Shaft's Big Score which appeared in theaters in 1972.

In 1974, he published Dummy, a non-fiction account of the story of an accused deaf-mute murderer. It was nominated for an Edgar in the Fact Crime category.

He co-wrote A Force of One in 1979, one of Chuck Norris's earlier films.

Thereafter, Tidyman never attained the kind of success he enjoyed with The French Connection and the Shaft series, although he had a high note in 1980 with his teleplay for the TV movie Guyana Tragedy: The Story of Jim Jones (which he also had a hand in producing), which garnered him an Emmy nomination. For creating the Shaft books, he became one of the few white individuals to win an NAACP Image Award.

Tidyman married Susan Gould, and fathered two children — Adam and Nicholas. Gould passed a few years later. In 1982, he married former Motown soul singer Chris Clark, who had co-written the screenplay for Lady Sings the Blues (1972). He died two years later from a perforated ulcer.

Description above from the Wikipedia article Ernest Tidyman, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia

Known for

Writing
2019 Shaft Writing Novel 63
Fair
2000 Shaft Writing Novel 59
Average
1986 Stark: Mirror Image Writing Characters N/A
N/A
1985 Brotherly Love Writing Teleplay 59
Average
1985 Stark Writing Screenplay 58
Average
1983 Last Plane Out Writing Writer 58
Average
1980 Alcatraz: The Whole Shocking Story Writing Teleplay 58
Average
1980 Alcatraz: The Whole Shocking Story Writing Teleplay 69
Fair
1980 Guyana Tragedy: The Story of Jim Jones Writing Teleplay 70
Good
1980 Power Writing Writer N/A
N/A
1979 A Force of One Writing Story 56
Average
1979 A Force of One Writing Screenplay 56
Average
1979 Dummy Writing Writer 59
Average
1978 To Kill a Cop Writing Writer N/A
N/A
1976 Street People Writing Dialogue 58
Average
1976 Street People Writing Writer 58
Average
1975 Report to the Commissioner Writing Screenplay 59
Average
1973 Shaft in Africa Writing Characters 59
Average
1973 High Plains Drifter Writing Writer 68
Fair
1972 Shaft's Big Score! Writing Writer 58
Average
1971 The French Connection Writing Screenplay 71
Good
1971 Shaft Writing Screenplay 61
Fair
1971 Shaft Writing Novel 61
Fair

Production
1980 Alcatraz: The Whole Shocking Story Production Co-Producer 58
Average
1980 Alcatraz: The Whole Shocking Story Production Co-Producer 69
Fair
1980 Guyana Tragedy: The Story of Jim Jones Production Producer 70
Good
1979 Dummy Production Producer 59
Average
1972 Shaft's Big Score! Production Producer 58
Average
1971 Shaft Production Executive Producer 61
Fair