Clifford Irving
Clifford Irving | |
---|---|
Born | Clifford Michael Irving November 5, 1930 New York City, U.S. |
Died | December 19, 2017 Sarasota, Florida, U.S. | (aged 87)
Occupation | Novelist, investigative reporter |
Alma mater | Cornell University |
Years active | 1956–2015 |
Spouse | Nina Wilcox
(m. 1952, annulled)Claire Lydon
(m. 1958; died 1959)Fay Desch
(m. 1962; div. 1965)Edith Sommer
(m. 1967, divorced))Maureen Earl
(m. 1984; div. 1998)Julie Schall (m. 1998) |
Clifford Michael Irving (November 5, 1930 – December 19, 2017) was an American novelist and investigative reporter. Although he published 20 novels, he is best known for an "
Irving later wrote The Hoax (1981), his account of events surrounding the development and sale of the fake autobiography. The book was adapted as a 2006 biopic of the same name starring Richard Gere as Clifford Irving. He continued to write and published his later books as e-books available via Kindle and Nook.[2]
Early life and writing career
Irving grew up in
Working as a copy boy at The New York Times, Irving wrote his first novel, On a Darkling Plain (1956), published by Putnam.[citation needed]
Irving completed his second novel, The Losers (1958), while traveling in Europe. His third novel, The Valley (1960), is a mythic Western saga, published by
After returning to Ibiza, Irving became friendly with Hungarian art forger Elmyr de Hory. The painter asked him to write a biography, which was published as Fake! (1969). Irving and de Hory are both featured in Orson Welles's film documentary, F for Fake (1974), which was inspired by both Fake! and the Hughes autobiography affair.[5][6]
Personal life
His first wife was Nina Wilcox. Their marriage was annulled in 1952.[7] Later, on the Spanish island of Ibiza, he met an Englishwoman, Claire Lydon; they married in 1958 and moved to California. She died the following year at Big Sur in an automobile accident on May 8, 1959.[8]
In 1962, after a year spent traveling around the world and living in a houseboat in Kashmir, Irving moved back to Ibiza with his third wife, Fay Desch, an English photographic model, and their newborn son, Josh. This marriage ended in divorce. In 1967, Irving married Swiss/German artist Edith Sommer. They had two sons, John Edmond (aka "Nedsky") and Barnaby.[9] He reportedly had a lengthy affair in the 1970s with the Danish actress and singer Nina van Pallandt.[10]
Irving later married English author Maureen "Moish" Earl. From 1984 to 1998 they lived mainly in the mountain town of San Miguel de Allende, Guanajuato, Mexico.[11] After divorcing Earl, Irving married an Australian woman, Julie Schall.[9]
Fake autobiography of Howard Hughes
By 1958, millionaire
Suskind took on the work of research in news archives. Irving started by enlisting the aid of artist and writer friends on Ibiza in order to forge letters in Hughes's own hand, imitating authentic letters they had seen displayed in Newsweek magazine.[8]
Irving contacted his publisher,
The McGraw-Hill editors invited Irving to New York, where the publishers drafted contracts among Hughes, Irving, and the company, with Irving and his friends forging Hughes' signatures. McGraw-Hill paid an advance of US$100,000, with an additional US$400,000 to be paid to Hughes; Irving later bargained the sum up to US$765,000. McGraw-Hill paid by checks made out to "H. R. Hughes", which Irving's Swiss wife Edith deposited to a
The investigation
Learning of the planned book, representatives of Hughes' companies expressed doubts about its authenticity. Frank McCulloch, known for years as the last journalist to interview Hughes, had received an angry call from someone claiming to be Hughes, but after he read the Irving manuscript, became convinced that the book was genuine.[13]
McGraw-Hill and
On January 7, 1972, Hughes arranged a telephone conference with seven journalists, whose end of the conversation was televised: in this conference, Hughes claimed that he had never even met Irving, much less corresponded with him.[15][16] Irving claimed the voice on the phone was an imposter, but it subsequently became clear that Irving was the fraud.[13]
Hughes' lawyer, Chester Davis, immediately filed suit against McGraw-Hill, Life, Clifford Irving, and Dell Publications, while Swiss authorities investigated the "Helga R. Hughes" bank account: the Irvings by this time had returned to their home on the Balearic island of Ibiza. After the Swiss bank identified Edith Irving as the depositor of the funds, the hoax was revealed.
Confession and trial
The Irvings confessed on January 28, 1972.[17] They and Suskind were indicted for "conspiracy to defraud through use of the mails" and pleaded guilty on June 16. Irving spent 17 months in prison. He voluntarily returned the US$765,000 advance to his publishers. Edith, a.k.a. "Helga", served prison sentences in the United States and in Switzerland.[18]
Film
In July 2005, filming began in Puerto Rico and New York on
Irving characterized the film as a clichéd distortion of the story and "a hoax about a hoax". He described the film's portrayals of Suskind, Edith Irving and himself as "absurd even more than inaccurate". He noted that the film was not true to his account, adding events that had not taken place.[19] As the author of the source book, Irving is credited as a writer for the film, but he had himself removed from credit as technical adviser.
In spring 2012, the movie rights to Irving's nonfiction book, Fake!, were optioned by Steve Golin and Anonymous Content LLP.[20] Irving was commissioned to write a screenplay for the movie. In 2015, Anonymous Content's option for the book's dramatic rights expired.
Later life and death
In 2012 Irving formatted and placed 12 of his books, including one unpublished novel, for sale on
Irving died of pancreatic cancer in Sarasota, Florida, at the age of 87.[22]
Legacy
In November 2014 the
Don Carleton, executive director at the Briscoe Center, remarked of Clifford Irving that he was "an important writer who has lived a colorful and controversial life, which has been a major source of inspiration for much of his literary work". He also said that he was "delighted that his papers are now available to enrich scholarship here at the university."[23]
Bibliography
Books
- On a Darkling Plain (1956) (also published in Canada as The Quick and the Loving)
- The Losers (1958)
- The Valley (1960)
- The 38th Floor (1965)
- The Battle of Jerusalem (1967)
- Spy (1968)
- Fake: The Story of Elmyr de Hory: The Greatest Art Forger of Our Time (1969)
- Autobiography of Howard Hughes (1971)
- Project Octavio: The Story of the Howard Hughes Hoax (1972) with Richard Suskind
- The Death Freak (1976)
- The Sleeping Spy (1979)
- The Hoax (1981)
- Tom Mix and Pancho Villa (1981)
- The Angel of Zin (1983)
- Trial (1987)
- Daddy's Girl: The Campbell Murder Case A True Tale of Vengeance, Betrayal, and Texas Justice (1988)
- Final Argument (1990)
- The Spring (1995)
- Boy on Trial (2004)
- Clifford Irving's Prison Journal, aka Jailing (2012)
- Bloomberg Discovers America (2012)
Book contributions
- Crown Publishers, 1980, pp. 166-171.
References
- ^ Kaufman, Michael T. (February 15, 1974). "Irving Is Freed on Parole Here; Says He Owes 'About a Million'". The New York Times.
- ^ "Amazon author page Clifford Irving". Amazon. Retrieved 2015-02-03.
- ^ Lambiek comic shop and studio in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. "Lambiek Comiclopedia: Jay Irving". Lambiek.net. Retrieved 2014-05-20.
- ^ Irving, Clifford (1960). The Valley. McGraw-Hill.
- ^ Wallace, Mike (July 2012). "Con Men: Fascinating Profiles of Swindlers and Rogues from the Files of the Most Successful Broadcast in Television History". 60 Minutes.
- ISBN 9781416593195. Retrieved 2014-05-20 – via Books.google.com.
- ISSN 0024-3019.
- ^ a b "The Fabulous Hoax of Clifford Irving". Time, February 21, 1972.
- ^ ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2023-12-24.
- ^ Reed, Christopher (December 21, 2017). "Clifford Irving obituary". The Guardian.
- ISBN 9780671664220.
- ^ "The Secret Life of Clifford Irving". Time. February 14, 1972. Archived from the original on October 11, 2007. Retrieved 2014-05-20.
- ^ a b Mick Brown (2007-07-28). "You couldn't make it up". The Telegraph. Retrieved 2015-08-06.
- ^ Bell, Rachael. "Clifford Irving's Hoax". truTV.com. p. 7. Archived from the original on 2009-06-01. Retrieved 2010-02-26.
- ^ B. James Gladstone (2013-05-01). The Man Who Seduced Hollywood: The Life and Loves of Greg Bautzer, Tinseltown's Most Powerful Lawyer.
- ^ "Creative Day – Fakes, Forgery and PhotoShop Part Two". 2013-09-07. Retrieved 2015-08-06.
- ^ "Clifford Irving". postalmuseum.si.edu. Retrieved 2023-12-24.
- ^ "Edith Irving to File for Divorce". Zurich, Switzerland. Associated Press. May 4, 1974.
- ^ "Irving, Clifford. "The New Movie"". 2007-12-24. Archived from the original on December 24, 2007. Retrieved 2014-05-20.
- ^ Kipling, Kay (May 30, 2014). "Behind the Fake: An Interview with Author Clifford Irving". Sarasota Magazine. Retrieved 2023-12-24.
- ^ Irving, Clifford. "Controversial Author Clifford Irving Publishes 12 Rare Books on Kindle & Nook". www.prnewswire.com. Retrieved 2023-12-24.
- ^ Grimes, William (December 20, 2017). "Clifford Irving, Author of a Notorious Literary Hoax, Dies at 87". The New York Times.
- ^ a b "The Briscoe Center has acquired the papers of controversial author and investigative journalist Clifford Irving". Dolph Briscoe Center for American History. October 16, 2014. Retrieved 2023-12-24.
Further reading
- Bell, Rachael. "A Wild Idea". CrimeLibrary.com.
- Davies, Martin. "Bibliomaniacs' Corner: Clifford Irving". Enciclopèdia d'Eivissa i Formentera, 1995. Archived from the original.
- Fay, Stephen, and Lewis Chester, Magnus Linklater. Hoax: The Inside Story of the Howard Hughes-Clifford Irving Affair. New York: Viking Press, 1972. Irving says this book is "mostly fiction".[citation needed]
- Graves, Ralph. "The Hughes Affair, starring Clifford Irving". Life, February 4, 1972, pp. 32–33.
- Herzog, Brad. "The Real Thing". Cornell Alumni Magazine, Vol. 109, No. 5, March/April 2007, pp. 54–59.
- Magnússon, Magnús. Fakes, Forgers & Phoneys: Famous Scams and Scamps. Edinburgh: Mainstream, 2007.
- Phelan, James. "The Clifford Irving Hoax". Scandals, Scamps, and Scoundrels: The Casebook of an investigative Reporter. New York: Random House, 1982, pp. 3–39.
- Streissguth, Thomas. "Clifford Irving: The Writer Who Faked History". Hoaxers & Hustlers. Minneapolis: Oliver Press, 1994, pp. 103–121.
External links
- Official website
- Clifford Irving at IMDb
- Clifford Irving FBI file at Internet Archive
- Clifford Irving Papers, 1954-2012 at University of Texas
- Clifford Irving writing resume at The Cooper Company
- New Langton Arts: Clifford Irving Show with Phantom Rosebuds
Documentary films
- Kolarz, Henry (1974). Der Scheck heiligt die Mittel.
- Produced for German television. Richard Suskind portrayed himself.
- Welles, Orson (1974). F for Fake.
- Includes a segment on Irving filmed around the time the Hughes autobiography scandal broke.