William Riley Burnett (November 25, 1899 - April 25, 1982), often credited as W. R. Burnett, was an American novelist and screenwriter. He is best known for the crime novel Little Caesar, whose film adaptation is considered the first of the classic American gangster movies.
Burnett was born in Springfield, Ohio, U.S. He left his civil service job there to move to Chicago when he was 28, by which time he had written over a hundred short stories and five novels, all unpublished.
Read more about W. R. Burnett: Writing Career, Film Work, Later Years
Famous quotes containing the word burnett:
“I have grown so tired of Woman with a capital W, though I suppose it is rankest heresy to say so. I don’t want to be Woman at all—I have begun to feel that I want to be something like this—WO—A–.”
—Frances Hodgson Burnett (1849–1924)