Biography for
Gustav Hasford More at IMDbPro »

Date of Birth

28 November 1947, Haleyville, Alabama, USA

Date of Death

29 January 1993, Ithaca, Greece (heart attack)

Nickname

Gus

Mini Biography

Gustav Hasford was born in 1947, in Russellville, Alabama. He joined the Marines right out of school in 1967 and used his experiences as a Combat Correspondent in Vietnam to write his first novel, The Short-Timers, which Stanley Kubrick turned into Full Metal Jacket (1987). Hasford's second novel, published in 1990, was a sequel to The Short-Timers titled The Phantom Blooper. It detailed Private Joker's transformation after living in a Vietnamese village. Hasford's final novel, A Gypsy Good Time, was a dialogue-rich detective story. When he died of a heart attack in 1993 he was living on the island of Ithaca in Greece.

IMDb Mini Biography By: Jason Aaron

Spouse

Charlene Broock (1 September 1978 - ?)

Trivia

Died alone, living in a cheap motel on the island of Aegina in Greece.

He married Charlene Broock in September 1978. In his 1979 novel "The Short-Timers", Leonard ("Private Pyle") names his M-14 rifle "Charlene".

His sequel to "The Short-Timers" (1979), "The Phantom Blooper", was published in 1990. Though his two war novels, particularly his first, are considered classics of Vietnam War-era fiction, neither book currently is in print.

Won an Academy Award nomination (along with co-screenwriters Michael Herr and Stanley Kubrick for the only produced screenplay he ever wrote.

Maintained lifelong friendships with his fellow combat correspondents of the First Marine Division, the self-proclaimed "Snuffies."

Did not graduate high school because he refused to take his graduation exams.

As a struggling writer, he associated with various 1970s science fiction writers, and roomed with Harlan Ellison for a time.

He collaborated with Stanley Kubrick for three years on the screenplay for Full Metal Jacket (1987), which is based on his 1979 novel "The Short-Timers". Haford met Kurbick in person only once, and during dinner, Kubrick said to co-screenwriter Michael Herr said "I can't deal with this man."

A voracious reader and bibliophile, he was sentenced to six months in jail in 1988 for stealing 748 books from nine libraries throughout the country.

Browse biographies section by name

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z