Great comeback stories, especially those where something tragic stopped someone from following their dreams and passion, can be a huge source of inspiration. Since last year, the comeback of actors has been a hot topic. The Academy Awards only increased the subject after Ke Huy Quan and Brandon Fraser won Oscars for the two categories of male actors, with each actor having their own distinct yet beautiful comeback stories on the big screen.
These stories are always fun to watch. However, there’s a different kind of comeback story, where someone had a pretty rough upbringing and yet was able to turn their life around and become who they wanted to be.
Edward Bunker was a writer, actor and consultant who sadly passed away in 2005 due to an operative complication. Nevertheless, he was involved in a number of major crime-related productions using much of his knowledge from his personal criminal past and experience of incarceration. Bunker went against everything and everyone and was able to turn the tables and become somewhat of a household name in Hollywood.
Here’s more about this fantastic story that shouldn’t be forgotten.
The Life Story of Edward Bunker
Bunker was born in Los Angeles, California, in 1933. It could be said that he was born into show business: his mother was a chorus girl who appeared in Busby Burkeley films, and his alcoholic father was a stagehand and grip. Bunker was raised by an aunt until he was placed in foster care at the age of seven for shoplifting. The shoplifting was just the beginning: as he got older, he committed several other crimes and was eventually placed in juvenile detention facilities.
Bunker was only 17 years old when he racked up an impressive number of terms in juvenile detention and was sent to California’s San Quentin State Prison, where he was the youngest inmate. He served a total of 18 years in prison for check forging, assault and other crimes.
During his time behind bars, he talked to those on death row through the vents in the isolation cells. Then he met serial rapist and kidnapper Caryl Chessman, who became a writer and inspired Bunker to write as well. Bunker told Los Angeles times“I never imagined that a prisoner, let alone a death row inmate, could write a book and have it published.”
But Chessman succeeded, sparking a spark of creativity and possibility. Since then, until he got out of prison, he wrote several short stories and six novels until he wrote his first published novel, No beast so fierce. He got out and continued his career as a writer.
Beat all odds
Edward Bunker’s first love was writing. Even later, when he tried different things, he admitted that his passion for writing was greater than anything else. He told the LA Times, “Stories were my great escape from the misery of my world.”
After her retirement, the actress Louise Fazenda Wallis became one of the main benefactors of the McKinley Home for Boys, and she took a liking to Bunker. While he was imprisoned, she sent him a used typewriter, a thesaurus, and a New York Times subscription. Bunker also enrolled in Writer’s Digest and began a correspondence course in English at the University of California.
Bunker wrote several successful novels, including his autobiography Education of a criminal. Prisoners could get five books a week from the prison’s library. He read them vehemently at every opportunity he could, so that he would finish them and pick out new ones. He even met some of the great writers of this century, including Aldous Huxley and Tennessee Williams when he worked as a driver for Wallis as a teenager. The novelist has been acclaimed by critics and fans everywhere. His fame became international and he was praised, especially in France, for the elements of existentialism in his books – which are so loved by the French literary public.
Writer, actor and consultant
It was clear how ambitious Bunker was, and he didn’t stop himself from exploring and trying new things, like being an actor. He starred in no less than 27 projects, and they all had a common theme: action and criminal dramas – which was also the common thread in his novels.
The new actor was part of the cast in Quentin Tarantino’s Reservoir dogsand his character became Mr. named Blue, after Bunker’s other autobiographical novel, Little boy blue. Tarantino said he was a fan of Bunker’s books. The writer played along Tango and cash, straight time (in a small role), Runaway train, The longest meterand much more.
Because he loved writing so much, he became a screenwriter. Bunker’s debut, No beast so ferocious, became the movie straight time starring Dustin Hoffman, which he helped adapt. He also wrote the screenplay Dog Eats Dog, The animal factory (based on one of his novels), and Runaway train. Bunker was part of the cast No beast so fierce, Runaway trainAnd The animal factory, where he played a minor role alongside William Defoe. When he was not credited as a writer or in the cast, he worked as a consultant.
Bunker’s fascinating life proves that it’s never too late to start over and that you never know how life will turn out.