- Born
- Died
- Birth nameJohn Dudley Ball Jr.
- Novelist John Dudley Ball was born in Schenectady, NY, in 1911, the son of a scientist. He grew up in Milwaukee, WI, and attended Wisconsin's Carroll College. After graduation he worked as a staff writer specializing in science for "Fortune" magazine, then went to work for the "Brooklyn Eagle" newspaper as a feature writer and music critic, and held a variety of jobs in the publishing and broadcasting industries. A prolific novelist, his best-known work would have to be "In the Heat of the Night" (1965), which was turned into both a successful film (In the Heat of the Night (1967)) and a successful TV series (In the Heat of the Night (1988).
He died in Encino, CA, in October of 1988.
- IMDb mini biography by: frankfob2@yahoo.com
- SpouseNanona Maude (Patricia) Hamilton(August 20, 1942 - September 15, 1988) (his death, 1 child)
- ChildrenJohn David Ball
- ParentsJohn Dudley Ball Sr.Alena Laura Wiles
- RelativesEsther Catherine Ball(Sibling)
- He was active in California nudist society, the setting for his second Virgil Tibbs book, "The Case of the Cool Cottontail".
- He worked as a pilot, music critic, newspaper columnist and public relations director before becoming a fiction writer.
- Held a black belt in Aikido.
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