Actors - Edward Bunker

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	Actors - Edward Bunker

Edward Bunker (born December 31, 1933, died July 19, 2005, in Los Angeles, California) was an American author of crime fiction, screenwriter, and actor. He wrote numerous books, some of which have been filmed.

Bunker was a bright but troublesome child, who spent much of his childhood in different foster homes and institutions. He started on a criminal career at a very early age, and continued on this path throughout the years, returning to prison again and again. He has been convicted of bank robbery, drug dealing, extortion, armed robbery, and forgery. A repeating pattern of convictions, paroles, releases and escapes, further crimes and new convictions continued until he was released yet again from prison in 1975, at which point he finally left his criminal days permanently behind and became a writer. He stayed out of jail thereafter, and instead focused on his career as a writer and actor.

Biography

Edward Bunker was born into a troubled family. His parents lived in a constant state of alcohol-fueled argument. When they divorced, Bunker ended up in a foster home at the age of five, but he felt profoundly unhappy and ran away. As a result, Bunker went through a progression of increasingly draconian institutions. Consistently rebellious and defiant, young Bunker was subjected to a harsh regime of discipline. He attended a military school for a few months, where peer pressure caused him to take up stealing, but eventually ran away again, ending up in a hobo camp 400 miles away. While Bunker was eventually accosted by the authorities, this established a pattern he would follow throughout his formative years.

Shoplifting and other crimes of similar scope eventually landed Bunker in Juvenile Hall, where he became acquainted with hardened young criminals. Although Bunker was younger and smaller than the other inmates, he was intelligent (with an estimated IQ of 152), streetwise and extremely literate. He soon learned to hide his fear and embraced the dog-eat-dog mentality that was the norm in his new surroundings. A long string of escapes, problems with the law and different institutions – including a mental hospital – followed.

At the age of fourteen, Bunker was paroled and sent to his aunt. However, the young man was already well on his way to a life of crime, and at the age of sixteen, he was caught on a parole violation. Instead of a reform school or some other institution designed for young offenders, Bunker was sent to prison. This did not chasten Bunker – to the contrary, the young offender was hard and vicious, and proud of it. Bunker believed that he could either be predator or prey, and did his best to establish himself in the former category, rather than the latter. In Los Angeles County Jail, he stabbed another inmate – a convicted murderer – in the showers, and soon gained a respectful reputation as a fearless young man. Some thought he was unhinged, but in his book Mr. Blue: Memoirs of a Renegade he stated that it was merely a protective mechanism designed to make people leave him alone.

In 1951, the seventeen-year-old Bunker had the dubious honor of being the youngest ever inmate in San Quentin prison. While spending time in solitary – known as "the hole" – he was situated close to the death row cell of Caryl Chessman, who was writing on a typewriter. He had already met Chessman earlier, and Chessman sent him an issue of Argosy magazine, in which the first chapter of his book Cell 2455 Death Row was published. Bunker already identified with Cervantes and Dostoyevsky, two writers who had written much of their work while in prison, and he was inspired.

When Louisa Wallis, a former star of the silent screen and the wife of motion picture producer Hal B. Wallis, with whom Bunker had already struck up a friendship during his earlier time on the outside and whom he still kept in contact with, arranged for him to have a typewriter, Bunker started to write. The resulting work was smuggled out to Wallis, who showed it to her friends. The work was considered to be unpublishable, but Bunker's talent had been recognized. (This manuscript eventually became No Beast So Fierce.)

Bunker was paroled in 1956. Now 22, Bunker was unable to adjust to living in normal society. As an ex-convict, he felt ostracized by "normal" people, although he managed to stay out of trouble for several years. Although Mrs. Wallis attempted to help him both with her connections and financially, her behaviour became increasingly erratic. She was diagnosed with a nervous breakdown, and her husband pronounced many of her former friends – including Bunker – persona non grata in the Wallis household. She died in 1962. For his part, Bunker held down various jobs for a while, including that of a used car salesman, but eventually returned to crime. He orchestrated robberies, although he didn't personally take part in the execution phase, forged checks and engaged in other criminal activities.

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