Steve Shagan Biography

Fast Facts

• After moving to Hollywood in the late 1950s, he worked as a publicist for John Wayne before getting his first job as a producer for NBC's "Tarzan" series
• Began writing while he was a member of the U․S․ Coast Guard during WWII
• Quote: "When you write a novel, there's nothing between you and the audience․ When you write a film, there's a whole army between you and the audience․ Not that I'll give it up․ I get a tremendous kick out of seeing a character I've created on the screen․"
• After leaving the series "Tarzan," he began to concentrate solely on writing, later making waves for his Oscar nominated movie from 1974, "Save the Tiger․"
• Best known as a novelist and screenwriter who wrote "Save the Tiger" and "Voyage of the Damned" and co-wrote "Primal Fear․"
• Author Harold Robbins loaned him his personal typewriter so that he could finish his debut novel after his own machine broke
• Wrote the novel for "Save the Tiger" after he had already completed the screenplay