Biography

John Donald McPartland (1911–1958) was a writer specializing in pulp fiction crime whose career was ended by an early death at age 47. In addition to his pulp work, he is known for his more standard novel, No Down Payment, which was later made into the movie of the same title, directed by Martin Ritt and starring Joanne Woodward and Tony Randall, among others.

McPartland also is known for a strongly anti-communist Life magazine article, titled "Portrait of an American Communist," which he penned as a Life magazine staff writer in January 1948. McPartland was born April 13, 1911, in Chicago. He was educated as an engineer. In 1943, during World War II, he was inducted into the U.S. Army. After the war, his first book, Sex in Our Changing World, was published in 1947 to moderate success, and he joined Life as a staff writer. Later as an Army reservist, he was called back during the Korean War and served with the pacific division of the Stars and Stripes newspaper where he was a staff writer. On his return from Asia, McPartland settled in California and began to write on a regular basis, though he retained some desire to be an engineer. In addition to his novels, he wrote a handful of screenplays for Hollywood. On September 14, 1958, in Monterey, California, McParland suffered a heart attack and died. He was 47.

During the settlement of his estate, McPartland's personal life became national news. It was revealed during estate proceedings that he had a legal wife and son in Mill Valley, California, while at the same time, a mistress in Monterey who had borne him five children, and who as Mrs. Eleanor McPartland, was named the city's "Mother of the Year" in 1956. Additionally, a daughter from an earlier marriage in Chicago was later attached to the estate.