Sidney Sheldon poses with his wife Alexandra Kostoff as they arrive for a cocktail reception in Beverly Hills, California, in this September 9, 2004 file photo. - ReutersLOS ANGELES (AP):
Sidney Sheldon, who won awards in three careers - Broadway theatre, movies and television - then at age 50 turned to writing best-selling novels about stalwart women who triumph in a hostile world of ruthless men, has died. He was 89.
Sheldon died Tuesday afternoon of complications from pneumonia at Eisenhower Medical Centre in Rancho Mirage, said Warren Cowan, his publicist.
His wife, Alexandra, and his daughter, author Mary Sheldon, were by his side.
"I've lost a long-time and dear friend," Cowan said. "In all my years in this business, I've never heard an unkind word said about him."
Sheldon's books, with titles such as Rage of Angels, The Other Side of Midnight, Master of the Game and If Tomorrow Comes, provided his greatest fame. They were cleverly plotted, with a high degree of suspense and sensuality and a device to keep the reader turning pages.
Leave the guy hanging
"I try to write my books so the reader can't put them down," he explained in a 1982 interview.
"I try to construct them so when the reader gets to the end of a chapter, he or she has to read just one more chapter. It's the technique of the old Saturday afternoon serial: leave the guy hanging on the edge of the cliff at the end of the chapter."
Analysing why so many women bought his books, he commented: "I like to write about women who are talented and capable, but most important, retain their femininity. Women have tremendous power - their femininity, because men can't do without it."
Sheldon was obviously not aiming at highbrow critics, whose reviews of his books were generally disparaging. He remained undeterred, promoting the novels and himself with genial fervour. A big, cheerful man, he bragged about his work habits.
Unlike other novelists who toiled over typewriters or computers, he dictated 50 pages a day to a secretary or a tape machine. He corrected the pages the following day, continuing the routine until he had 1,200 to 1,500 pages.
"Then I do a complete rewrite - 12 to 15 times," he said. "I spend a whole year rewriting."
Several of his novels became television miniseries, often with the author as producer.
