Richard Condon

Richard Condon was born on March 18, 1915 in New York City, New York, USA as Richard Thomas Condon.

He managed the publicity of the Disney hits Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937), Fantasia (1940), Pinocchio (1940), and Dumbo (1941).

In the 1950s, the Condon family lived in England, Spain, and France. During the 1960s, they lived in Geneva, Switzerland, and in 1971, they bought a house in Kilkenny, Ireland. In 1980, he moved to Dallas, Texas, to be near his daughter, and there wrote "Prizzi's Honor."

Condon moved to Madrid to direct publicity for Stanley Kramer 's The Pride and the Passion (1957), which starred Cary Grant, Frank Sinatra, and Sophia Loren but which was unsuccessful, and Condon wound up with a bleeding ulcer. He was equally stressed publicizing The King and Four Queens (1956) starring Clark Gable, and his wife urged him to quit the profession.

Condon's 1958 novel, "The Oldest Confession", about an art thief, was inspired by paintings he saw during the filming of The Pride and the Passion (1957), at El Escorial outside Madrid. In the vestry, the film lighting showed paintings by Goya, Velasquez, and El Greco high on the wall, which otherwise were not visible. His novel was adapted into the film The Happy Thieves (1961), starring Rex Harrison and Rita Hayworth.

He is known for his work on Prizzi's Honor (1985), The Manchurian Candidate (1962) and The Manchurian Candidate (2004). He was married to Evelyn Hunt.

Biography in: "American National Biography". Supplement 1, pp. 122-123. New York: Oxford University Press, 2002.