Rudolph "Rudy" Wurlitzer (born 1937) is an American novelist and screenwriter. His fiction includes
Nog,
Flats,
Quake, and
Slow Fade. He also wrote a non-fiction book,
Hard Travel to Sacred Places, an account of his spiritual journey through Asia after the death of his 21-year-old son.
Wurlitzer was born in Texas. He has claimed that he never had the chance to enjoy the fortune created by the Wurlitzer music empire, as his father spent it. His 1969 debut novel,
Nog, was acclaimed by Thomas Pynchon and was followed by
Flats in 1970 and
Quake, which imagines Hollywood struck by a major earthquake. 1984's
Slow Fade, also dealing with Hollywood, is a portrait of an ageing, once-brilliant film director attempting to make peace with his demons and his past.
Among his many screenplays are:
- Glen & Randa (directed by Jim McBride), 1969
- Two-Lane Blacktop (directed by Monte Hellman), 1971
- Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid (directed by Sam Peckinpah), 1973
- Walker (directed by Alex Cox), 1987
- Candy Mountain (co-directed by Robert Frank and Rudy Wurlitzer), 1988
- Homo Faber (aka Voyager) (directed by Volker Schlöndorff), 1991
- Wind (directed by Carroll Ballard), 1992
- Little Buddha (directed by Bernardo Bertolucci), 1993
He wrote the libretto for Philip Glass' opera
In The Penal Colony, and has also written four TV scripts for
100 Centre Street, directed by Sidney Lumet.
His latest novel is
The Drop Edge of Yonder, released spring 2008 from Two Dollar Radio. The book is based on Wurlitzer's unproduced screenplay
Zebulon, which served as the inspiration for Jim Jarmusch's film
Dead Man.