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DIED
October 27, 1977

RECENT CREDITS
Passion (FILM)  Jan. 1, 1998
Butterfly (FILM)  Jan. 1, 1981
The Postman Always Rings Twice (FILM)  Jan. 1, 1981
Serenade (FILM)  Apr. 1, 1956
The Postman Always Rings Twice (FILM)  May. 2, 1946

BIOGRAPHY
A hard-boiled novelist and short story writer in the Dashiell Hammett mode, James M. Cain is best known for films which were based on his works, but on which he did not act as screenwriter.

Cain did write the....


A hard-boiled novelist and short story writer in the Dashiell Hammett mode, James M. Cain is best known for films which were based on his works, but on which he did not act as screenwriter.

Cain did write the screenplays for "Stand Up and Fight" (1939) and "Gypsy Wildcat" (1944), but like Dorothy Parker and F Scott Fitzgerald, did not adapt well to the rigors of screenwriting. More than a dozen films have been made from Cain's novels and stories, several of which have become classics of the film noir genre. The first, "Double Indemnity" (1944), starred Barbara Stanwyck and Fred MacMurray as a cold-blooded couple planning an insurance fraud murder; it was later loosely remade as "Body Heat" (1981) with Kathleen Turner and William Hurt (although neither film utilized Cain's original Satan worship subplot). The film version of "Mildred Pierce" (1945) won Joan Crawford the Best Actress Oscar, and the 1946 and 1981 film versions of "The Postman Always Rings Twice" provided showcases for actresses Lana Turner and Jessica Lange, respectively. Pia Zadora did not have the same luck starring in a disastrous version of Cain's "Butterfly" (1981).

Cain's books are dark tales of obsessive love and murder, peopled by rumpled men with troubled pasts and gorgeous "dames" either in distress or causing distress. His stories translated perfectly to the film noir genre of the 1940s, with its dark, angled lighting, hard-boiled scripts and lack of naivete. His characters provided performers the opportunity to change direction (Crawford, MacMurray) or establish their niche as big-city toughs (John Garfield and Lana Turner in "Postman").

In private life, Cain was a cantankerous, much-married alcoholic. Moving to a small Maryland town in the late 1940s, he continued writing until his death in 1977, but never achieved the success he had enjoyed early in his career. From 1944-47, Cain was married to silent screen star Aileen Pringle.




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Passion
Released: Jan. 1, 1997

Butterfly
Released: Jan. 1, 1981

Jack Nicholson at a press conference for 'The Bucket List'.  Tokyo, Japan - 04-30-08
The Postman Always Rings Twice
Released: Jan. 1, 1981

Serenade
Released: Apr. 1, 1956

The Postman Always Rings Twice
Released: May. 2, 1946


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