by One of the most significant American crime authors of his period, Joseph Wambaugh passed away from cancer at the age of 88. The internal conflicts of police work served as the foundation for Wambaugh’s works and their film adaptations, starting with his novels The New Centurions (1971) and The Blue Night (1972) and the nonfiction work The Onion Field (1973).
Wambaug 14 Years To Los Angeles!
Wambaugh, who spent 14 years as a Los Angeles police officer, was well aware of the difficulties cops had preserving a semblance of normalcy while enmeshed in the chaotic realities of their violent and frequently illogical professions. He disclosed how this affected their life and the sometimes drastic measures they sought to alleviate the stress. He also confronted corruption head-on, both personally among police personnel and structurally, inside the politics of the police force and the city they were supposed to defend.
The author Michael Connelly, whose police officer Harry Bosch faced many of the same problems, claimed that “if he didn’t invent the police novel, he certainly reinvented it.” Wambaugh’s environment was undoubtedly very different from the spotless portrayal of LAPD investigator Joe Friday in Dragnet’s television series.
Wambaugh was born in East Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where his mother, Anne (née Malloy), was a homemaker and his father, Joseph, was a steelworker and police officer who served as the small-town police chief. When Joe was 14, they joined the postwar migration to California; he enlisted in the Marines in 1954 after graduating high school in Ontario, California, at 17. He married Dee Allsop, his high school love, the following year.
What Happened To Him?
One of the most significant American crime authors of his period, Joseph Wambaugh passed away from cancer at the age of 88. The internal conflicts of police work served as the foundation for Wambaugh’s works and their film adaptations, starting with his novels The New Centurions (1971) and The Blue Night (1972) and the nonfiction work The Onion Field (1973).
Wambaugh, who spent 14 years as a Los Angeles police officer, was well aware of the difficulties cops had preserving a semblance of normalcy while enmeshed in the chaotic realities of their violent and frequently illogical professions. He disclosed how this affected their life and the sometimes drastic measures they sought to alleviate the stress. He also confronted corruption head-on, both personally among police personnel and structurally, inside the politics of the police force and the city they were supposed to defend.
The author Michael Connelly, whose police officer Harry Bosch faced many of the same problems, claimed that “if he didn’t invent the police novel, he certainly reinvented it.” Wambaugh’s environment was undoubtedly very different from the spotless portrayal of LAPD investigator Joe Friday in the television series Dragnet.
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What About His Initial Life Phase?
Wambaugh was born in East Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where his mother, Anne (née Malloy), was a homemaker and his father, Joseph, was a steelworker and police officer who served as the small-town police chief. When Joe was 14, they joined the postwar migration to California; he enlisted in the Marines in 1954 after graduating high school in Ontario, California, at the age of 17. He married Dee Allsop, his high school love, the following year.
After being released in 1957, he attended Los Angeles State College (now California State University Los Angeles) for night classes in English while working at a steel plant. After earning his bachelor’s degree in 1960, he joined the LAPD. In 1968, after earning his master’s degree and continuing to study at night while walking a beat, he was elevated to detective.
One editor suggested that he explore longer form after all of his early short pieces were rejected. The New Centurions, his debut book, was a New York Times bestseller for thirty-two weeks. It follows three police academy grads from 1960 as they get to know their duties, leading up to the Watts riots in 1965. George C. Scott played one of his best parts in the novel’s 1972 movie adaptation. Wambaugh had resigned from the LAPD by that point, and he was making arrests of criminals who wanted his autograph or a recommendation to a publisher or film producer.
Retirement Period
Look at me In his final days before retirement, the Blue Knight recounted the story of Bumper Morgan, a lifelong beat cop. Based on the book, the 1973 TV miniseries spawned a TV series starring George Kennedy and earned an Emmy for William Holden as Bumper and a Golden Globe for Lee Remick as his wife.
Wambaugh went on to write The Onion Field, which told the story of two LA police officers who were abducted by petty criminals; one of them was killed, but the other managed to get away. In a piece that is sometimes likened to Truman Capote’s In Cold Blood, Wambaugh contrasted how the surviving police officer battles the anguish of his experience, while one of the two murderers gains the appearance of respectability throughout the trial.
About his own Catholic upbringing, he clarified, “I’m most interested in characters who have no conscience.” The Mystery Writers of America gave the novel a special Edgar Allan Poe prize, and Wambaugh penned the script for Harold Becker’s great 1979 film, which featured John Savage and James Woods.
He co-developed the television anthology series Police Story in 1973, which went on to win Edgars for its episodes in 1974 and 1975. He also created the popular series Police Woman, which starred Angie Dickinson.
Wambaugh swiftly adapted each of his subsequent three novels into movies. In 1977, Wambaugh authored the screenplay for Robert Aldrich’s most anarchic project, The Choirboys (1975). He received another Edgar for writing the script for Becker’s adaptation of The Black Marble (1978).
The Glitter Dome (1980) drew a moral comparison between the police probe into pornography and the romance between “chickens and vultures” in a Chinatown bar of the same name. James Garner and Margot Kidder appeared in the 1984 HBO production.
Wambaugh returned to real crime in 1984 with two works, Lines and Shadows and Echoes in the Darkness, following a stint in politics and a Nobel Prize in Delta Star (1983). The latter was turned into a TV miniseries starring Treat Williams, Peter Coyote, and Stockard Channing.
It dealt with the murder of a teacher and her two kids in suburban Philadelphia, for which the principal of the school was one of two men found guilty. Following the overturning of his conviction, it was discovered that Wambaugh had given $50,000 to the main investigator in exchange for the principal’s arrest.
Wambaugh was sued by the principal but prevailed in the lawsuit, even though the money had nothing to do with the verdict being overturned.
By this point, his impact on police dramas had permeated several shows, ranging from The Shield to NYPD Blue and Hill Street Blues. However, after relocating from Los Angeles to Orange County and then to San Diego, Wambaugh’s writing shifted its emphasis, with five books published between 1985 and 1996 that focused more on the shadow lives of wealthy elites in upscale neighborhoods.
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Final Thoughts
For many years to come, Joseph Wambaugh will be remembered as a pioneer in the fields of crime fiction and police narrative. By providing readers with an honest and genuine look into the lives of police officers, his compelling writings and direct knowledge of law enforcement revolutionized the genre.
Wambaugh, a bestselling author and former LAPD officer, helped to blur the lines between fact and fiction, establishing a legacy that still has an impact on crime writers and filmmakers. We shall never forget his influence on law enforcement culture and literature.
