Edward Bunker, ex-convict, crime novelist

EDWARD Bunker (71), an ex-convict who learned to write in prison before achieving literary fame as a crime novelist, died on Tuesday.

At 17, he became the youngest inmate at San Quentin after he stabbed a prison guard at a youth detention centre and later escaped from a Los Angeles jail. It was during his 18 years of incarceration for robbery, forgery and other crimes that Bunker learned to write.In 1973, he made his literary debut with ‘No Beast So Fierce’, about a paroled thief who has trouble re-entering society.Author James Ellroy called it “quite simply one of the great crime novels of the past 30 years; perhaps the best novel of the Los Angeles underworld ever written.”It was made into the movie ‘Straight Time’ starring Dustin Hoffman.Bunker played a minor role as a criminal.Other big-screen credits include 1985’s ‘Runaway Train’.Themes of crime and prison life appeared in his other novels, ‘The Animal Factory’, ‘Little Boy Blue’ and ‘Dog Eat Dog’.As an actor, Bunker had nearly two dozen roles, most notably as Mr Blue in Quentin Tarantino’s 1992 violent drama ‘Reservoir Dogs’.Bunker’s last published book was a 2000 memoir, ‘Education of a Felon’.- Nampa-APIt was during his 18 years of incarceration for robbery, forgery and other crimes that Bunker learned to write.In 1973, he made his literary debut with ‘No Beast So Fierce’, about a paroled thief who has trouble re-entering society.Author James Ellroy called it “quite simply one of the great crime novels of the past 30 years; perhaps the best novel of the Los Angeles underworld ever written.”It was made into the movie ‘Straight Time’ starring Dustin Hoffman.Bunker played a minor role as a criminal.Other big-screen credits include 1985’s ‘Runaway Train’.Themes of crime and prison life appeared in his other novels, ‘The Animal Factory’, ‘Little Boy Blue’ and ‘Dog Eat Dog’.As an actor, Bunker had nearly two dozen roles, most notably as Mr Blue in Quentin Tarantino’s 1992 violent drama ‘Reservoir Dogs’.Bunker’s last published book was a 2000 memoir, ‘Education of a Felon’.- Nampa-AP