Howard Fast

Howard Fast

Birth : 1914-11-11, New York City, New York, USA

Death : 2003-03-12

History

Fast was born in New York City. His mother, Ida (née Miller), was a British Jewish immigrant, and his father, Barney Fast, was a Ukrainian Jewish immigrant who shortened his name from Fastovsky upon arrival in America. When his mother died in 1923 and his father became unemployed, Howard's youngest brother, Julius, went to live with relatives, while he and his older brother, Jerome, sold newspapers. Howard credited his early voracious reading to a part-time job in the New York Public Library.

Profile

Howard Fast

Movies

Spartacus
Novel
Sentenced to spend out the rest of his adult life laboring in the harsh deserts of Egypt, the Thracian slave Spartacus gets a new lease on life when he is purchased by the obese owner of a Roman gladiator school. Moved by the defiance of an Ethiopian warrior, Draba, Spartacus leads a slave uprising which threatens Rome's status quo. As Spartacus gains sympathy within the Roman Senate, he also makes a powerful enemy in form of Marcus Lucinius Crassus, who makes it a matter of personal honor to crush the rebellion.
The Crossing
Screenplay
A made-for-TV dramatization of George Washington's perilous gamble of crossing the Delaware River and attacking the British forces at Trenton.
The Crossing
Novel
A made-for-TV dramatization of George Washington's perilous gamble of crossing the Delaware River and attacking the British forces at Trenton.
April Morning
Novel
A teenager grows up during the onset of the American revolution.
Freedom Road
Novel
Ex-slave and former Union soldier Gideon Jackson represents other ex-slaves at the constitutional convention, and is soon elected to the U.S. Senate despite opposition from white landowners, law enforcement and the KKK. He unites with sharecropper Abner Lait, who helps Jackson unite ex-slaves and white tenant farmers.
21 Hours at Munich
Writer
A dramatization of the incident in 1972 when Arab terrorists broke into the Olympic compound in Munich and murdered 11 Israeli athletes.
What's a Nice Girl Like You...?
Teleplay
A Bronx working girl is drawn into an elaborate extortion plot after being kidnapped by a gang of sophisticated con men who force her, because of her remarkable resemblance, to impersonate a wealthy socialite. Based on E.V. Cunningham's (Howard Fast's) novel, "Shirley."
What's a Nice Girl Like You...?
Novel
A Bronx working girl is drawn into an elaborate extortion plot after being kidnapped by a gang of sophisticated con men who force her, because of her remarkable resemblance, to impersonate a wealthy socialite. Based on E.V. Cunningham's (Howard Fast's) novel, "Shirley."
The Face of Fear
Writer
A young Iowa schoolteacher, thinking she is dying of leukemia, goes to San Francisco, where she hires a mob killer to take her life. However, she soon changes her mind, and with the help of the local police, tries to find the killer before he fulfills his part of the bargain.
Jigsaw
Novel
After inadvertently ingesting some sugar laced with LSD, a man wakes up with amnesia and in the middle of a murder plot.
Kaleidoscope
Writer
An unmade movie by Alfred Hitchcock. Young bodybuilder, a serial killer, lures women to their deaths near water. The New York police uses an undercover policewoman to try and trap him.
Penelope
Novel
When James met Penelope at a club, it took all of three weeks before they were married. But after the marriage, other women became attracted to James and he kept getting promoted, which took him away from Penelope. So Penelope puts on a disguise and robs her husband's bank. Her psychiatrist, Greg, believes that this condition is caused by James being over worked and under romantic with Penelope. She also tells Greg that she robs the business associates of James. But Greg is in love with Penelope - in fact everyone likes her. The problem is when she confesses to her crimes, no one believes her.
Mirage
Novel
New York City. David Stillwell struggles to recover his memory before the people who are trying to kill him succeed. Who is he, who are they, and why is he surrounded by murder?
Sylvia
Screenplay
Sylvia West (Carroll Baker) may not be who she says she is. Her fiancé, the very well-to-do Frederick Summers (Peter Lawford), hires an investigator named Alan Maklin (George Maharis) to do some digging, and what he finds out about her life prior to becoming a writer is quite shocking. Will the newfound knowledge ruin the marriage? Gordon Douglas (Young at Heart) directs this drama, which is based on E.V. Cunningham's book.
Cheyenne Autumn
Novel
A reluctant cavalry Captain must track a defiant tribe of migrating Cheyenne.
Man in the Middle
Novel
In a remote jungle outpost in the Far Eastern theater of World War II, a hotheaded American soldier murders an allied British sergeant in cold blood. Stalwart American Lt. Colonel Barney Adams (Mitchum) is dispatched to defend him in the ensuing court martial. But when Lt. Adams starts encountering roadblocks in his search for evidence, and his key witnesses start disappearing one after another, he soon realizes he's merely a pawn in a mysterious conspiracy that could extend to the highest levels of military power.
Spartacus
Novel
The rebellious Thracian Spartacus, born and raised a slave, is sold to Gladiator trainer Batiatus. After weeks of being trained to kill for the arena, Spartacus turns on his owners and leads the other slaves in rebellion. As the rebels move from town to town, their numbers swell as escaped slaves join their ranks. Under the leadership of Spartacus, they make their way to southern Italy, where they will cross the sea and return to their homes.
Rachel and the Stranger
Story
A widowed farmer takes an indentured servant as his new wife, but the arrival of a passing stranger threatens their burgeoning relationship.