Thomas Harris

Thomas Harris, born William Thomas Harris III on September 22, 1940, is an American novelist best known for his suspense series centered on the character Hannibal Lecter. Most of his books have been turned into films or television shows, most notably The Silence of the Lambs, which was only the third movie ever to sweep all five major Academy Award categories. As of 2019, his novels had sold over 50 million copies worldwide, with The Silence of the Lambs alone accounting for 10 million of those.

Biography

Harris grew up in Jackson, Tennessee, and later Rich, Mississippi. A quiet, bookish child, he came out of his shell in high school. He studied English at Baylor University in Waco, Texas, graduating in 1964, and while there worked as a police-beat reporter for the Waco Tribune-Herald. In 1968 he moved to New York City to work for the Associated Press, leaving in 1974 to write his first novel, Black Sunday.

Reception

The Silence of the Lambs earned strong reviews, several genre awards, and sold over 10 million copies. Its sequel, Hannibal, was highly praised by Stephen King, though John Lanchester found it had a "sense of discontinuity." Novelist John Dunning called Harris "a talent of the first rank." In 2019, Harris described his writing process as "almost passive," noting that some days he shows up to work alone, feeling foolish, while other days all the characters appear ready. He emphasized the need to show up every day in case an idea arrives. In 2007 he received a Bram Stoker Award for Lifetime Achievement.

Personal life

Harris shuns publicity, giving very few interviews between 1976 and 2019. At Baylor he met Harriet Anne Haley; they married in June 1961, had a daughter, Elizabeth Anne, and divorced in August 1968. He remained close to his mother, Polly, calling her every night no matter where he was, and often discussed scenes from his novels with her. She died on December 31, 2011.

As of 1991, Harris lived in South Florida with a summer home in Sag Harbor, New York. His partner from 1999 was Pace Barnes, described by USA Today as outgoing and working in publishing. Friend and literary agent Morton Janklow called Harris "wonderfully jovial," a passionate chef with "a courtliness you associate with the South." In his first major interview in 43 years, with The New York Times in 2019, Harris said he was a nature lover and had volunteered for 20 years at the Pelican Harbor Seabird Station in Miami, where staff only learned of his fame a few years earlier. He called fame "more of a nuisance than anything else."

His published works include Black Sunday (1975) and Cari Mora (2019), as well as the Hannibal Lecter novels: Red Dragon (1981), The Silence of the Lambs (1988), Hannibal (1999), and the prequel Hannibal Rising (2006). He also wrote the screenplay for the film adaptation of Hannibal Rising (2007).