WRITER

Jim Thompson

1906 - 1977

Photo of Jim Thompson

Icon of person Jim Thompson

James Myers Thompson (September 27, 1906 – April 7, 1977) was an American prose writer and screenwriter, known for his hardboiled crime fiction. Thompson wrote more than thirty novels, the majority of which were original paperback publications, published from the late-1940s through mid-1950s. Despite some positive critical notice—notably by Anthony Boucher in The New York Times—he was little-recognized in his lifetime. Read more on Wikipedia

Since 2007, the English Wikipedia page of Jim Thompson has received more than 25,283 page views. His biography is available in 25 different languages on Wikipedia. Jim Thompson is the 2,588th most popular writer (down from 2,456th in 2019), the 3,288th most popular biography from United States (down from 3,181st in 2019) and the 285th most popular American Writer.

Memorability Metrics

  • 25k

    Page Views (PV)

  • 54.20

    Historical Popularity Index (HPI)

  • 25

    Languages Editions (L)

  • 4.23

    Effective Languages (L*)

  • 2.95

    Coefficient of Variation (CV)

Notable Works

The Alcoholics
Alcoholics, Fiction
1953
The Grifters
Swindlers and swindling, Fiction
1963
Recoil
1953
The Killer Inside Me
Lou Ford is the deputy sheriff of a small town in Texas. The worst thing most people can say against him is that he's a little slow and a little boring. But, then, most people don't know about the sickness--the sickness that almost got Lou put away when he was younger. The sickness that is about to surface again.
1952
The Getaway
Fiction, American fiction, Crime thrillers
1959
A Hell of a Woman
1954

Among WRITERS

Among writers, Jim Thompson ranks 2,588 out of 7,302. Before him are Edgar Lee Masters, Arthur Young, Constantin von Wurzbach, Juan Ruiz de Alarcón, Karl Gutzkow, and Isaac Deutscher. After him are Penelope Fitzgerald, Menasseh Ben Israel, Idris Bitlisi, Konstantin Batyushkov, Boris Pilnyak, and Gerald Gardner.

Most Popular Writers in Wikipedia

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Contemporaries

Among people born in 1906, Jim Thompson ranks 139. Before him are Zinka Milanov, J. R. Jayewardene, T. H. White, Lilian Harvey, Anton Karas, and Paolo Stoppa. After him are Princess Anne of Orléans, Edward Ochab, Samad Vurgun, Wilhelm Boger, Joan Hickson, and Eraldo Monzeglio. Among people deceased in 1977, Jim Thompson ranks 102. Before him are Pan Yuliang, Jacob Veldhuyzen van Zanten, Ba Maw, Son Ngoc Thanh, Nathan Homer Knorr, and Sergei Kruglov. After him are Alexander Tcherepnin, Wilhelm Boger, Otto Deßloch, Carl Gustaf von Rosen, Ivan Fedyuninsky, and Luigi Bertolini.

Others Born in 1906

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Others Deceased in 1977

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In United States

Among people born in United States, Jim Thompson ranks 3,288 out of 20,380. Before him are Edgar Lee Masters (1868), Mel Blanc (1908), Henry Fairfield Osborn (1857), Bill Cobbs (1934), Lizzo (1988), and David Lee Roth (1954). After him are Joe Don Baker (1936), Trini Lopez (1937), Doris Hart (1925), Ann Miller (1923), Charles Barkley (1963), and Sung Kang (1972).

Others born in United States

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Among WRITERS In United States

Among writers born in United States, Jim Thompson ranks 285. Before him are Lois McMaster Bujold (1949), Andrea Dworkin (1946), John Barth (1930), L. Sprague de Camp (1907), Elmore Leonard (1925), and Edgar Lee Masters (1868). After him are Terry Goodkind (1948), Neil Simon (1927), Orson Scott Card (1951), Eric Carle (1929), Richard Bandler (1950), and John Cheever (1912).

American born Writers

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