Richard Hack

Award-winning writer Richard Hack was born in Haverford, Pennsylvania. He attended his share of private boarding schools, followed by Penn State and Columbia Universities, and holds an M.S. degree in Environmental Design. At age six, after seeing author Truman Capote on "The Tonight Show," Richard sent Capote a copy of a 12-page "book" he had written about his pet wire-haired terrier Frisky. Addressed only to Truman Capote, New York, NY, the envelope was delivered by the post-office, to which Capote responded: "Good story, bad spelling, send more. Tru." Following that initial introduction, the pair generated decades of correspondence between one another which lasted until Capote's death in 1984. Richard began his writing career at TV Guide Magazine, and later became the TV Editor of the trade paper The Hollywood Reporter, where his column was syndicated to over 600 newspapers. His first book, "Scanners: The New Order" was made into a feature film. Many of his 28 subsequent biographical books were used as source material for Oscar-winning films including "The Aviator" ("Hughes: The Private Diaries and Letters"), "J. Edgar" ("PuppetMaster: The Secret Life of J. Edgar Hoover"), "Bohemian Rhapsody" ("Mercury: The First Queen"), and "Duchess of Death" ("Duchess of Death: The Unauthorized Biography of Agatha Christie"). He has just finished writing the non-fiction Russian spy novel "The Bluebird and the Lion" and has begun work on "Murder in Monte Carlo," the true crime story of the assassination of billionaire socialite Hélène Pastor. Richard was being interviewed live on the "Today Show" by Matt Lauer when the first plane hit the World Trade Center. That interview is a permanent exhibit at the 9/11 Memorial Museum where it plays no-stop on multiple flat screen TVs. Richard is an advocate for neutrality in news media and equality in business and among the world's populations.