Salvatore Lombino (1926-1952)
He was born in New York City in 1926.
He served in World War II in the Navy where he kept himself company by drawing. Upon returning to civilian life, he attended university and was a member of Phi Beta Kappa. After working as a teacher, he would write a fictional book about it called The Blackboard Jungle in 1954. This was the start of his career as a crime fiction writer.
Evan Hunter (1952-2005)
Although Hunter denied this, there are similarities between his new name Evan Hunter and the two schools he attended–Evander Childs High School and Hunter College. He made this professional and legal change, because he was wary of his books not being able to sell under his original Italian name. He used other pseudonyms, such as Ed McBain, but this one would stay with him throughout his life.
This name change is similar to the cases of Ernest Borgnine and Joseph Conrad, who have either changed their names themselves or had it changed for them. This is done in order to assimilate faster in Anglophonic society by making their names easier to understand.
Hunter became a crime fiction writer throughout his career, writing notable books such as The Birds, High and Low, and Fuzz. His entire body of published work consists of more than 100 novels and screenplays. He married three times.
He passed away in July 6, 2005 from larynx cancer and was survived by three children.
Sources (Fontoi)
- Curran, James M. \”Evan Hunter.\” Wikipedia. March 2001. CC BY-SA 3.0. Change includes placing image between two images.
- B-Sheet. Ed McBain.
- Evan Hunter. IMDb.
- Evan Hunter. Wikipedia.
- Ynkawen, Robert-Scott. \”Ernest Borgnine | Name Changes.\” Brilafamo. 2021.
- Ynkawen, Robert-Scott. \”Joseph Conrad | Name Changes.\” Brilafamo. 2021.