James Dickey(1923-1997)

Writer
Actor

Born Feb. 2nd, 1923 in Atlanta, Georgia, Dickey served in the U.S. Air Force during W.W. II and went on to earn a BA & MA from Vanderbilt University and become a celebrated American author & poet, winning numerous awards for his literary works.

To film goers, he is best known as the as the author of the best selling book turned gripping, psychological film Deliverance (1972) starring Burt Reynolds and Jon Voight. Dickey has a small, but pivotal role near the film's conclusion as a steely Southern sheriff who doesn't wholly believe the businessmen's story about the ill-fated canoe.

Dickey passed away on January 19th, 1997.

IMDbProStarmeter See rank

Awards
- 2 nominations

Known for:

Deliverance

7.7

Writer

1972

To the White Sea

Writer

The Call of the Wild

6.2

TV Movie

Writer

1976

The Big Story

6.8

TV Series

Prosecuting Attorney

Credits

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IMDbPro

Writer

The Call of the Wild
- Writer
- TV Movie
- 1976
Deliverance
- novel
- screenplay
- 1972

Actor

In-development projects at IMDbPro

Personal details

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Height
- 6′ 3″ (1.91 m)
Born
- February 2, 1923
- Buckhead, Georgia, USA
Died
- January 19, 1997
- Columbia, South Carolina, USA(lung disease)
Spouses
Other works
His poetry collection "Buckdancer's Choice" won a 1966 National Book Award.
Publicity listings
- 1 Interview

Did you know

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Trivia
World War II and Korean War veteran. Flew night fighter and radar observation missions in the South Pacific with U.S. Army Air Forces during World War II, and served as a training officer with the U.S. Air Force during the Korean War.

Quotes
I think [Allen Ginsberg] has done more harm to the craft that I honor and live by than anybody else by reducing it to a kind of mean that enables the most dubious practitioners to claim they are poets because they think, "If the kind of thing Ginsberg does is poetry, I can do that".