A. I. Bezzerides

     Albert Isaac "Buzz" Bezzerides is a novelist and short story writer who later became a screenwriter in Hollywood. He was born in Turkey in 1908, and he and his family immigrated to America when he was at the age of two. He grew up in Fresno, California, and he went on to study electrical engineering at Berkeley. He was first published in Story Magazine in 1935 with the story "Passage of Eternity". He went on to write The Long Haul, a novel about the trucking business, in 1938. 

    In 1940, Bezzerides was offered $2000 from Warner Brothers for the movie rights to The Long Haul. He agreed to the deal, realizing only after agreeing that the script for his novel had already been written. It went on to be the film They Drive by Night, starring Humphrey Bogart, and it was a huge success. Bezzerides was eventually given a screenwriting contract by Warner Brothers for $300 a week. Bezzerides was quoted speaking about the deal saying, "I had no idea whether it was guilt or conscience, or greed to swindle more stories out of me, that motivated Warner Bros. to offer me a seven-year contract... Whatever their reason, I grabbed their offer so I could quit my career as a communications engineer by becoming a writer, writing scripts in an entirely new world."

    Bezzerides went on to become well known for film noir. His first screen play was Juke Girl which starred Ann Sheridan and Ronald Reagan. Over the years, numerous more films were made based on his novels including Deer Fury, Thieves' Highway, On Dangerous Ground, Beneath the 12 Mile Reef, and Track of the Cat. Throughout his career, he continued writing screenplays and worked in television in the 50s and 60s. He was also the co-creator for the television show The Big Valley. One of his most notable works was writing the script for Kiss Me Deadly, for it is considered a turning for film noir. It is recognized for its apocalyptic elements and nihilistic tone as well as the "glowing suitcase" it features that is paid homage to in numerous other films.