Richard Hack
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Richard Hack (March 20, 1958) is an American writer best known for his biographical books and screenplays. He is a frequent guest on talk shows and an outspoken critic of bias in television news.
Born in Drexel Hill, Pennsylvania, Hack attended the Lynnewood School, and Haverford School, on the Main Line in suburban Philadelphia. He later attended Columbia University and Pennsylvania State University and holds a Master’s Degree in Environmental Design. Discovered by Jack Stuart, president of Manhattan’s Stuart Agency, Hack was cast during the 1970s and 1980s in over 200 commercials, including UltraBrite toothpaste, Jockey Life underwear, Gillette Dry Look hairspray, Merona Sportswear, Bloomingdale’s and Calvin Klein.
After appearing briefly in the Guiding Light soap opera on CBS, Hack moved to Los Angeles where he was hired by TV Guide magazine as its West Coast national programming editor. By the early 80s, Hack began writing the TeleVisions column for the daily entertainment trade paper, The Hollywood Reporter. During the next decade, Hack was instrumental in propelling the paper into a dominant position over rival Variety, and often appeared on the Tonight Show and Today reporting on Hollywood.
During the same period, he was a frequent guest on Oprah Winfrey, Good Morning America, Larry King Live, Charlie Rose, Tomorrow, Entertainment Tonight, and Access Hollywood.
In 1990, Hack left The Hollywood Reporter to become Vice President of Creative Affairs at Dove Audio and Entertainment, a production company that specialized in mini-series and books-on-tape. While at Dove, Hack adapted Sidney Sheldon’s The Sands of Time, Memories of Midnight, and The Stars Shine Down as mini-series, which he also produced, and wrote his first book, Next to Hughes” with Robert Maheu.
Since leaving Dove, Hack moved to a horse ranch in Maui, where he stables polo ponies, and established a home on the Intracoastal in Florida. His bestseller Hughes: The Private Diaires, Memos and Letters was the basis for the hit film The Aviator. Hughes was released on September 11, 2001. Hack was being interviewed live on the Today show by Matt Lauer when the first plane crashed into the World Trade Center. His subsequent book, PuppetMaster: The Secret Life of J. Edgar Hoover is being made into a feature film by HBO Films.
[edit] Published works
- 1991: Scanners II: The New Order (writing as Professor Janus Kimball)
- 1993: Next to Hughes (with Robert Maheu)
- 1994: Richard Hack’s Home Video Companion for Parents
- 1994: Unfinished Lives
- 1995: LoveMates: An Astrological Guide to Romance
- 1995: The Dinosaur Who Wouldn't Brush His Teeth (writing as Dr. Dandelion)
- 1995: Jackson Family Values (with Margaret Maldanado Jackson)
- 1995: Memories of Madison County (with Jana St. James)
- 1996: Waffle the Bear's Amazing Adventure (writing as Dr. Dandelion)
- 1996: Your Life: An Owner’s Manual
- 1997: When Money Is King: How Revlon's Ron Perlman Mastered the World of Finance to Create One of America's Greatest Business Empires, and Found Glamour, Beauty, and the High Life in the Bargain
- 1998: Open House
- 2000: Madness in the Morning: Life and Death in TV's Early Morning Ratings War
- 2001: Hughes: The Private Diaries, Memos and Letters
- 2002: Clash of the Titans: How the Unbridled Ambition of Ted Turner and Rupert Murdoch Has Created Global Empires That Control What We Read and Watch
- 2004: PuppetMaster: The Secret Life of J. Edgar Hoover
