Darryl Ponicsan

Darryl Ponicsan (pronounced PAHN-i-son; born May 26, 1938) is an American writer. He is best known as the author of the 1970 novel The Last Detail, which was adapted into a 1973 movie starring Jack Nicholson; and for the 1973 novel and screenplay Cinderella Liberty, starring James Caan. Ponicsan writes mystery novels under the pen name Anne Argula.

Life and career

Ponicsan was born in Shenandoah, Pennsylvania, the son of Anne (née Kuleck) and Frank G. Ponicsan, a merchant. He attended Muhlenberg College, (A.B., 1959) and Cornell University, (M.A., 1965).

He was teacher of English at a high school in Owego, New York, 1959–62; a social worker for Los Angeles County, Los Angeles, California in 1965, and teacher of high-school English in La Cañada, California from 1966 to 1969.

Ponicsan also wrote the screenplays for the CBS movie A Girl Called Hatter Fox (1977), the movies Nuts (1987), School Ties (1992), the HBO movie The Enemy Within (1992), and the CBS series The Mississippi (1983). He has worked frequently with producer-director Harold Becker, penning scripts for Taps (1981), Vision Quest (1985), and The Boost (1988).

Filmography

• "The Last Detail" (1973) (novel)
• Cinderella Liberty (1973) (novel and screenwriter)
• The Girl Called Hatter Fox (1977) (TV)
• Taps (with Robert Mark Kamen and James Lineberger) (1981)
• The Mississippi (1982) (TV)
• Vision Quest (1985)
• Nuts (with Alvin Sargent and Tom Topor) (1987)
• The Boost (1988)
• School Ties (with Dick Wolf) (1992)
• The Enemy Within (with Ron Bass) (1994) (TV)
• Random Hearts (with Kurt Luedtke) (1999)