Darryl Ponicsan

Darryl Ponicsán is the author of thirteen novels, including The Last Detail, Cinderella Liberty, Tom Mix Died for Your Sins and An Unmarried Man.

He’s also an award-winning screenwriter for both film and television, with credits including The Last Detail (with Jack Nicholson, Otis Young and Randy Quaid), Cinderella Liberty (with James Caan and Marsha Mason), Taps (with Tom Cruise, Sean Penn and Timothy Hutton), Vision Quest (with Matthew Modine, Linda Fiorentino and Madonna), Nuts (with Barbra Streisand, Richard Dreyfuss and Leslie Nielsen), The Boost (with James Woods and Sean Young), School Ties (with Brendan Fraser, Matt Damon and Ben Affleck), The Enemy Within (with Forest Whitaker and Dana Delany) and Random Hearts (with Harrison Ford and Kristen Scott Thomas).

He recently co-adapted his novel Last Flag Flying which serves as a follow-up and spiritual sequel to The Last Detail with filmmaker Richard Linklater (Boyhood and Dazed and Confused), who also directed. The film stars Bryan Cranston, Steve Carell and Laurence Fishburne.

Born in Shenandoah, Pennsylvania, Ponicsán taught high school after attending Muhlenberg College and earning an MA at Cornell University. He served in the US Navy from 1962 to 1965, then did social work in the Watts area of Los Angeles and taught high school before the success of his debut novel, The Last Detail, allowed him to become a full-time writer.

He resides in Palm Springs and Sonoma, California.