A. E. Hotchner

Aaron Edward Hotchner, (born 28 June 1919) is an American editor, novelist, playwright and biographer.^[1]

Biography

He was born in St. Louis in 1919, and attended Soldan High School. His parents were Abraham and Natalie Hotchner. Hotchner graduated from Washington University Law School in 1941, practiced law briefly, then served in the Air Force as a military journalist.When the war was over, he decided to forgo his legal career and pursue a career in writing.Hotchner's articles appeared in the best magazines and journals of the time, and he has also been an editor, biographer, novelist, playwright, and with Paul Newman, entrepreneur of the rarest type. All profits from their extraordinarily successful Newman's Own foods and other ventures are turned over to numerous charities, including the Hole in the Wall Gang camps that they established for children with serious illnesses. After his stint in the armed forces, Hotchner met Ernest Hemingway, and the two spent the next 14 years as close friends. Hotchner is best known for Papa Hemingway, his 1966 biography of Ernest Hemingway, whose work he had adapted for plays and television. His play Sweet Prince was produced Off-Broadway in 1982 at the Theater Off-Park, starring Keir Dullea and Ian Ambercrombie.^[2]

He has earned admiration for giving all profits from a number of ventures with actor Paul Newman (including co-authorship of a cookbook, as well as musical benefits)^[3] to support the Hole in the Wall Gang Camp and other charities.

King of the Hill is A. E. Hotchner's evocative memoir about growing up in St. Louis during the Great Depression. The book is a memoir of his own childhood. It was made into a film in 1993, the screenplay written and directed by Steven Soderbergh.

Hotchner lives in Westport, Connecticut.^[1]

Partial bibliography

• The Dangerous American (Random House, 1958)
• Papa Hemingway (Random House, 1966)
• Treasure (Random House, 1970)
• King of the Hill (Harper & Rowe, 1973, ISBN 0-06-011964-0)
• Looking for Miracles: a memoir about loving (Harper & Row, 1975, ISBN 0-06-011965-9)
• Doris Day, Her Own Story (G.K. Hall, 1976, ISBN 0-8161-6391-X)
• Sophia, Living and Loving : Her Own Story (Morrow, 1979, ISBN 0-688-03428-4)
• The Man Who Lived at the Ritz (Putnam, 1981, ISBN 0-399-12651-1)
• Papa Hemingway : The Ecstasy and Sorrow (Morrow, 1983, ISBN 0-688-02041-0)
• Choice People : The Greats, Near-Greats, and Ingrates I Have Known (Morrow, 1984, ISBN 0-688-02215-4)
• Hemingway and His World (Vendome, 1989, ISBN 0-86565-115-9)
• Blown away : The Rolling Stones and the Death of the Sixties (Simon & Shuster, 1990, ISBN 0-671-69316-6)
• Louisiana Purchase (Carroll & Graf, 1996, ISBN 0-7867-0309-1)
• The Day I Fired Alan Ladd and Other World War II Adventures (U. of Missouri Press, 2002, ISBN 0-8262-1432-0)
• Everyone Comes to Elaine's (Harper Entertainment, 2004, ISBN 0-06-053818-X)
• "Paul and Me: 53 Years of Adventures and Misadventures with My Pal Paul Newman" (Nan A. Talese, 2010)

References

External links

• A.E. Hotchner at the Internet Movie Database
• Short bio at Washington University
• Another short bio at Washington University
• Bio at St. Louis Walk of Fame
• Short Bio from Bookbrowse
• Paul Newman and A.E. Hotchner, Shameless Exploitation in Pursuit of the Common Good: the Madcap Business Adventure of the Truly Oddest Couple (Random House, 2003, ISBN 0-385-51159-0).
• King of the Hill (movie review by Richard Harrington), Washington Post, September 10, 1993
• Hemingway, Hounded by the Feds (Op-Ed by A. E. Hotchner), New York Times, July 1, 2011