Robert Wilder wore enough different hats in a 45-year career as a writer that the quality of his work was difficult to assess or fully appreciate. He was a novelist, responsible for a dozen books — several of which became the basis for major motion pictures, including Flamingo Road and Written on the Wind — but was also a screenwriter on movies such as The Big Country, as well as a publicity man and a full-time journalist. Born in Richmond, VA, in 1901, he was the son of a minister-turned-lawyer-turned-doctor-turned-dentist, whose own moves through different professional lives seemed to set the pattern that the younger Wilder followed in his own life. He spent much of his youth in Daytona Beach, FL, and served in the United States Army during World War I. Wilder was educated at John B. Stetson University and Columbia University, and worked at a multitude of jobs, including soda jerk, ship fitter, theater usher, and shipping clerk. His career as a writer started when he was employed as an assistant to theatrical press agent Dixie Hines, and he subsequently formed his own agency, representing the publicity interests of Claudette Colbert, among others. He also tried his hand at writing for the theater, authoring a pair of plays, Sweet Chariot and Stardust…  » Read more