W.R. Burnett

Biography: Author and screenwriter W.R. Burnett first started out as a government statistician in Ohio. In 1928, he began writing crime and gangster stories. The next year, he published Little Caesar, his first novel. Two years later, the book was adapted into a film by Mervyn Le Roy, starring Edward G. Robinson. Among his other novels adapted to the screen are Iron Man, High Sierra, and The Asphalt Jungle. During the early '30s, Burnett began penning screenplays as well as novels and stories. As a scenarist, he worked alone or in collaboration until the 1960s.