Detroit-born James Leo Herlihy, a talented individual, entered the Navy straight from high school in 1945, but the war ended before he got to experience any combat. Following his discharge, he attended the renowned Black Mountain College in North Carolina, a small, experimental institution that focused on art, music, and literature, with notable faculty members such as Willem de Kooning and John Cage. During his time at the college, he befriended influential authors like Anaïs Nin.
After leaving Black Mountain College, Herlihy relocated to Pasadena, California, in 1948, where he enrolled in the prestigious Pasadena Playhouse College for the next two years. He went on to perform in approximately 50 plays along the West Coast, eventually moving to Boston, Massachusetts, and becoming a member of the Theater Company of Boston.
Herlihy's writing career took off in the mid-1950s, as he contributed to various television shows. His play "Blue Denim" enjoyed a successful run on Broadway in 1958 and was adapted into a film the following year. His novel "All Fall Down" was also adapted into a movie in 1962.
However, it was his 1965 novel, "Midnight Cowboy," that catapulted him to fame. The story of a young, naive Texan who becomes entangled with a Times Square denizen in New York City, the novel was adapted into a film in 1969. The controversial film, which depicted the title character as a male prostitute, was the first X-rated movie to win an Academy Award.
Although "Midnight Cowboy" solidified his reputation as an author, Herlihy only published two more books during his career: a short story collection called "A Story That Ends in a Scream" in 1967 and a novel about runaway teenagers, "The Season of the Witch," in 1971. He dedicated himself to teaching, offering classes in playwriting at New York's City College and serving as a visiting professor at the University of Arkansas' Fayetteville campus in 1983. He also taught acting and writing at Colorado College and the University of Southern California.
Tragically, Herlihy took his own life by overdosing on sleeping pills at his home in Los Angeles on October 21, 1993.
