시간의 모래밭을 떠나다

50에 글쓰기 시작하여 시간의 모래밭을 개간하여 세계를 끌어들인

엄청난 아저씨무수한 히트로 세계를 매료시킨 그이나, 그도 갔다.

그냥 "아, 갔구나 !!!"란 느낌이다.그는 지난 82년 한 인터뷰에서

"나는 독자들이 내 책을 손에서 내려놓을 수 없는 소설을 쓰려고 노력한다"고 말했다.
특히 모든 작가들이 직접 타이프나 컴퓨터로 글을 쓰는 반면에 시드니 셀던은 비서에게

하루에 50페이지를 직접 구술해 받아 적게 한 뒤 다음날부터 다시 수정하는

작문 습관을 갖고 있는 것으로 유명하다.

Sidney Sheldon (R) poses with his wife Alexandra Kostoff as they arrive for a cocktail reception in Beverly Hills,

California in this September 9, 2004 file photo. Sheldon, an Oscar-winning Hollywood screenwriter who went on

to become one of the world's most prolific novelists, died in California on Tuesday at the age of 89, a publicist said.

Sheldon died of complications from pneumonia at the Eisenhower Medical Center in Rancho Mirage, near his Palm

Springs home, said Sean Rossall, publicist at Warren Cowan and Associates. REUTERS/Jim Ruymen/Files

(UNITED

STATES)

LOS ANGELES - Sidney Sheldon, who won awards in three careers — Broadway theater, movies and television

— then at age 50 turned to writing best-selling novels about stalwart women who triumph in a hostile world of

ruthless men, has died. He was 89.

Sheldon died Tuesday afternoon of complications from pneumonia at Eisenhower Medical Center in Rancho Mirage, said Warren Cowan, his publicist of more than 25 years. His wife, Alexandra, was by his side.

"I've lost a longtime and dear friend," Cowan said. "In all my years in this business, I've never heard an unkind

word said about him."

Sheldon's books, with titles such as "Rage of Angels," "The Other Side of Midnight," "Master of the Game" and

"If Tomorrow Comes," provided his greatest fame. They were cleverly plotted, with a high degree of suspense and sensuality and a device to keep the reader turning pages.

"I try to write my books so the reader can't put them down," he explained in a 1982 interview. "I try to construct them

so when the reader gets to the end of a chapter, he or she has to read just one more chapter. It's the technique of

the old Saturday afternoon serial: leave the guy hanging on the edge of the cliff at the end of the chapter."

Analyzing why so many women bought his books, he commented: "I like to write about women who are talented

and capable, but most important, retain their femininity. Women have tremendous power — their femininity, because men can't do without it."

Sheldon was obviously not aiming at highbrow critics, whose reviews of his books were generally disparaging.

He remained undeterred, promoting the novels and himself with genial fervor. A big, cheerful man, he bragged

about his work habits.Unlike other novelists who toiled over typewriters or computers, he dictated 50 pages a day

to a secretary or a tape machine. He corrected the pages the following day, continuing the routine until he had 1,200

to 1,500 pages."Then I do a complete rewrite_ 12 to 15 times," he said. "I spend a whole year rewriting."

Several of his novels became television miniseries, often with the author as producer.

Sheldon began writing as a youngster in Chicago, where he was born Feb. 17, 1917. At 10, he made his first sale:

$10 for a poem. During the Depression, he worked at a variety of jobs, attended Northwestern University and contributed short plays to drama groups.

At 17, he decided to try his luck in Hollywood. The only job he could find was as a reader of prospective film

material at Universal Studio for $22 a week. At night he wrote his own screenplays and sold one, "South of Panama,"

to the studio for $250.During World War II, he served as a pilot in the Army Air Corps. In the New York theater after

the war he established his reputation as a prolific writer. At one time he had three musicals on Broadway: a rewritten "The Merry Widow," "Jackpot" and "Dream with Music." He received a Tony award as one of the writers of the Gwen Verdon hit "Redhead." His Broadway success brought about his return to Hollywood.

His first assignment, "The Bachelor and the Bobbysoxer," starring Cary Grant, Myrna Loy and Shirley Temple brought him the Academy Award for best original screenplay of 1947.

While under contract to MGM, he recalled in 1982, "I worked like hell and I never stopped. Dore Schary (then production head) one day looked at a list of MGM projects. I had written eight of them, more than three other

writers put together. That afternoon, he made me a producer."

With the movie business hurting because of television's popularity, Sheldon decided to try the new medium.

"I suppose I needed money," he remembered. "I met Patty Duke one day at lunch. So I produced 'The Patty Duke Show' (in which she played two cousins), and I did something nobody else in TV ever did. For seven years,

I wrote almost every single episode of the series."

Another series, "Nancy," lasted only a half-season, but "I Dream of Jeannie," which he also created and

produced, lasted five seasons, 1965-1970. The show concerned an astronaut,

Larry Hagman who lands on a desert island and discovers a bottle containing a beautiful, 2,000-year-old genie,

played by Barbara EdenShe accompanies him back to Florida and eventually marries her.

"During the last year of 'I Dream of Jeannie,' I decided to try a novel," he said in 1982. "Each morning from 9 until

noon, I had a secretary at the studio take all calls. I mean every single call. I wrote each morning — or rather,

dictated — and then I faced the TV business."

The result was "The Naked Face," which was scorned by book reviewers and sold 21,000 copies in hardcover.

The novel found a mass market in paperback, reportedly selling 3.1 million. Thereafter Sheldon became a habitue

of best-seller lists, often reigning on top.

Sheldon prided himself on the authenticity of his novels. He remarked in 1987: "If I write about a place, I have been there. If I write about a meal in Indonesia, I have eaten there in that restaurant. I don't think you can fool the reader."

For "Windmills of the Mind," which dealt with the CIA he interviewed former CIA chief Richard Helms, traveled to Argentina and Romania, and spent a week in Junction City, Kan., where the heroine had lived.

Having won a Tony, an Oscar and an Emmy (for "I Dream of Jeannie"), Sheldon declared that his final medium

was the best.

"I love writing books," he commented. "Movies are a collaborative medium, and everyone is second-guessing you. When you do a novel you're on your own. It's a freedom that doesn't exist in any other medium."

Sheldon was married for more than 30 years to Jorja Curtright Sheldon, a stage and film actress who later became

a prominent interior decorator. She died in 1985.

He married Alexandra Kostoff, a former child actress and advertising executive, in 1989.

Along with his wife, Sheldon was survived by his daughter, author Mary Sheldon; his brother Richard; two grandchildren and other family members.

Private funeral services were pending.