Ernest Tidyman

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Ernest Ralph Tidyman (January 1, 1928 – July 14, 1984) was an American writer and screenwriter best known for his books starring African-American detective John Shaft.

He also co-wrote the screenplay for John D.F.'s film adaptation of Shaft. Black's screenplay for The French Connection earned him the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay, a Writers Guild of America Award, and an Edgar Award.

Early life

Tidyman was born in Cleveland, Ohio, the son of Kathryn (Kascsak) and Benjamin Ralph Tidyman, a crime reporter for The Plain Dealer, was born. He was of Hungarian and British descent. He started his career in Cleveland as a copyboy when volunteers were 14, having dropped out of school in grade seven.

Tidyman joined the US Army in 1946 and spent time in public relations. He worked as a journalist and crime reporter in a variety of towns, including stints as editor of Diners Club newspaper and writing for The New York Times (1957–66). Flower Power, his first book about hippies, was published in 1968. He then decided to write about Shaft, a black detective.

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Career

"Reading black fiction, the central figure is either superhero or super hero," Styron's book says. The blacks I knew were intelligent and mature, and I wondered about a black hero who thinks of himself as a human being but who also uses his black rage as one of his sources, as well as intelligence and courage.

Philip d'Antoni, who hired him to write The French Connection, read his book Shaft.

"We think he has the potential to be a better thriller writer than the average thriller writer," said director William Friedkin. "He writes people so that an audience can identify characters quickly, but then complications ensue." Friedkin said he rewrote a portion of the script "But Tidyman's name will appear first" on the credits.

Friedkin's rewriting and credit grab offended Tidyman, who downplayed the director's contributions.

Tidyman was one of the best screenwriters in the industry thanks to the success of Shaft and French Connection. The Los Angeles Times wrote, "a standing man from a good start now looks like a one man resuscitator for the film as public entertainment." Tidyman was one of the few filmmakers to speak out against MGM's much-maligned James T. Aubrey, who funded Shaft. "Nobody ever lied to me or told me they were going to do something they didn't do," he said.

However, he was dissatisfied with the final films, particularly Shaft, and decided to branch out producing as well, founding Ernest Tidyman Productions in 1971. Ernest Tidyman Productions was changed from Ernest Tidyman International Ltd. in 1971 and then back to Ernest Tidyman Productions in 1979. Shaft Productions was founded in 1972 to deal with Shaft's sequels, Pilgrim Productions to handle Big Bucks, and Family Trouble Productions to produce an unmade film Family Trouble.

"You must hyphenate," he said. "If you have an idea, you'd better write it" and then you'd better produce it so you can monitor it." This town is more dependent on the writers, on the storytellers, than on anyone else, and it doesn't take long to know how to deal with them properly.

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

In 1974, he published Dummy, a non-fiction account of Donald Lang's deaf-mute murderer. In the Fact Crime category, it was nominated for an Edgar. LeVar Burton, a comedian, adapted the book into a 1979 TV film.

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

He wrote the teleplay for Guyana Tragedy: The Story of Jim Jones, which he also contributed to produce, earning him an Emmy nomination in 1980. He was one of the few white people to win the NAACP Image Award for his books.

In a 1980 interview, Tidyman said, "I write for money." He was up at six a.m. and wrote for 12 hours a day.

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