Cormac McCarthy was an acclaimed novelist. Those who won the Pulitzer Prize had to face years of obscurity and financial struggles. Unless "All the Pretty Horses," "No Country for Old Men,"And film adaptations of his works like "The Road" didn't mislead him. They were given a wider audience and financial stability. He died on Tuesday in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Penguin Random House confirmed that he died of natural causes. His son, John McCarthy, told the sad news that he was 89 when he was diagnosed.
McCarthy, known for his extreme reclusiveness, skillfully avoided public attention to the point where one critic wryly remarked, "He wasn't even famous for it." However, in 2008, his novel "No Country for Old Men," published in 2005, received a film adaptation by Joel and Ethan Coen. This gripping crime thriller, featuring exceptional performances from actors like Tommy Lee Jones, Javier Bardem, and Josh Brolin, briefly thrust McCarthy into the spotlight. The film garnered widespread acclaim and went on to win several Oscars, including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay, and Best Supporting Actor.
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While McCarthy's first novel, "The Orchard Keeper," was published in 1965, it wasn't until his 1992 National Book Award-winning work, "All the Pretty Horses," and its film adaptation in 2000 that he began to experience commercial success.
"All the Pretty Horses," set in west Texas during the years 1949 to 1951, marked the beginning of McCarthy's Border Trilogy, followed by "The Crossing" in 1994 and "Cities of the Plain" in 1998. However, the film adaptation directed by Billy Bob Thornton and featuring Matt Damon, Penelope Cruz, and Henry Thomas received mostly negative reviews. Thornton had to trim an hour of footage from the film due to pressures from producer-distributor Harvey Weinstein, but critics questioned whether the additional content would have improved the movie's "arty imagery and leaden pace."
In 2009, John Hillcoat directed a powerful film adaptation of McCarthy's Pulitzer Prize-winning 2006 novel, "The Road." The post-apocalyptic tale of a father and son starred Viggo Mortensen, Kodi Smit-McPhee, Charlize Theron, and Robert Duvall. The film received generally favorable reviews, but its bleak nature translated into modest box office returns.
In 2013, director Ridley Scott released the crime drama "The Counselor," based on an original script by McCarthy. The film, exploring the violent consequences of a failed drug deal, divided critics. Despite featuring A-list actors such as Brad Pitt, Cameron Diaz, and Penelope Cruz, some viewers felt that McCarthy's excessive philosophical dialogue undermined what could have been a straightforward genre film.
That same year, James Franco directed and co-wrote a chilling adaptation of McCarthy's 1973 novel, "Child of God," which Variety described as extremely faithful and suitably raw. The film, like the book, delved into the violence and degradation of its central character, portrayed courageously by Scott Haze.
A long-awaited big-screen adaptation of McCarthy's acclaimed novel "Blood Meridian" remained in development for years. In April, it was announced that John Hillcoat would direct the film, with McCarthy's son, John McCarthy, serving as executive producer.
McCarthy's television work includes the 1977 two-hour episode of the PBS anthology series "Visions" titled "The Gardener's Son," directed by Richard Pearce and starring Penelope Allen, Ned Beatty, and Kevin Conway. He also adapted his own play, written in 2006, for the 2011 HBO telefilm "The Sunset Limited," which he extensively rehearsed with director and actor Tommy Lee Jones, who starred alongside Samuel L. Jackson. Critics found the adaptation alternately claustrophobic, gritty, and light on plot, as it primarily took place in a single room.
McCarthy also wrote the five-act play "The Stonemason," which premiered in 1995.
In 2022, he published two novels, "The Passenger" and "Stella Maris."
Born as Charles McCarthy in Providence, Rhode Island, McCarthy relocated to Knoxville, Tennessee, with his family at the age of four. He acted in high school and pursued a liberal arts major at the University of Tennessee without completing a degree. While stationed in Alaska with the Air Force during the 1950s, he hosted a radio show.
McCarthy was married three times and had two sons: Cullen McCarthy, born in 1962 to his first wife, Lee Holleman, and John Francis McCarthy, born in 1999 to his third wife, Jennifer Winkley. He divorced his second wife, Annie DeLisle, in 1981.
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