LOS ANGELES (CNS) – Former Los Angeles police officer turned best- selling author Joseph Wambaugh, known for books such as “The Onion Field” and “The New Centurions,” has died, according to multiple media outlets. He was 88.
Longtime family friend, Janene Gant, told The New York Times Wambaugh died Friday of esophageal cancer at his home in Rancho Mirage.
The author of more than 20 books also co-created the Emmy-winning anthology series “Police Story,” which aired on NBC from 1973 to 1980 and launched three spinoffs, including “Police Woman,” starring Angie Dickinson.
Several of Wambaugh’s novels were also adapted for the big screen, including “The Choirboys” and “The New Centurions.”
Wambaugh co-wrote the screenplay for the film adaptation of his 1970 book “The Onion Field,” which told the real-life story of the 1963 kidnapping of two Los Angeles police officers where one was killed and the other was left devastated. The 1979 film co-starred actors James Woods, Ted Danson and John Savage.
“I was put on Earth to write `The Onion Field,’ Wambaugh told NPR in 2008. “That’s how I felt about it. It was such an emotional experience for me. I took a six-month leave of absence from the police department to write that book. I read 40,000 pages of court transcripts; I interviewed about 63 people and wrote the book in three months.”
His last book, “Harbor Nocturne,” was published in 2012 — part of a five-book Hollywood Station series.
Wambaugh used his 14 years with the Los Angeles Police Department to provide what many observers, including scores of police officers, felt was a more realistic depiction of the daily challenges of keeping the public safe.
“All I did was turn things around,” he told the San Diego Union- Tribune in 2019. “Instead of writing about how cops worked the job, I wrote about how the job worked on the cops.”
Michael Connelly, author of the popular Harry Bosch books about a LAPD detective, paid tribute to his mentor in a lengthy post on Instagram.
“I will miss his words, both to me and on the page,” Connelly wrote. “I read his work long before I knew him. When I was 16, I spent a night in a police station as a witness to a crime. It was a pivotal moment in my life. I got fascinated with cops and looked for true and fictional stories about them. Joe managed to blend both in his novels.
“I read `The New Centurions’ and `The Blue Knight.’ The truth about what it takes and means to be a cop was in his books. His cops were flawed and funny and dedicated. Sometimes fearless, sometimes frail.
“Many years later he took me under his wing. He invited me to his `research’ dinners with cops in L.A., and bought me dinners when I went through La Jolla on book tour. I’m heading there on tour this year and it won’t be the same without dinner with Joe.”
The East Pittsburgh, Penn. native was born on Jan. 22, 1937 and moved to Los Angeles with his family when he was 14. After serving in the U.S. Marine Corps., Wambaugh attended night school and later worked at a steel mill while attending college part time.
He eventually earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Cal State L.A. and considered becoming an English teacher before following in his father’s footsteps and becoming a police officer instead.
Wambaugh is survived by his wife of 69 years, Dee; son, David; and daughter, Jeannette. A second son, Mark, died in 1984.
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