Charles Mergendahl

Charles Mergendahl (February 23, 1919 – April 27, 1959) was an American writer, best known for his salacious 1958 novel The Bramble Bush and its 1960 film adaptation. He also contributed original scripts and adaptations to various American television anthology series throughout the 1950s.

Biography

Early life and career Charles H. Mergendahl Jr. was born in 1919 in Lynn, Massachusetts, the first of five children born to Charles Henry Mergendahl and Alice Brockway—the former a math instructor at Classical High School, the latter an English teacher at Worcester High School of Commerce. Charles Jr. attended Newton High School and Phillips Exeter Academy, graduating in 1937. He received his B.A. from Bowdoin College, graduating in 1941, and his M.A. from Boston University. in 1941, his play, My Last Duchess (a blank-verse dramatization of Robert Browning's much-anthologized poem), was awarded 1st prize in Bowdoin College's annual one-act play competition

He was awarded a Bronze Star decoration for his military service in leading the first wave of Marines onto the beach during the Battle of Tarawa in the Pacific War.

Death On April 26, 1959, during the filming of his most famous novel (which was being reprinted to coincide with the release), Mergendahl experienced brain trauma following an accidental fall at his home on 18 Leuce Place in Glen Cove, Long Island. He was taken to Community Hospital, where he died the following day at age 40. Predeceased by his wife, Mergendahl was survived by his daughter and four siblings.

Works Drama The Twig (1940) My Last Duchess (1941) Me and Harry (1941) Watch for the Morning (1941) Christmas FantasyPark BenchStanding Room Only

Fiction Novels Don't Wait Up for Spring (1944) (aka Tonight is Forever (1951)) His Days are as Grass (1946) This Spring of Love (1948) It's Only Temporary (1951) The Girl Cage (1953) (aka The Lonely Ones (1958)) With Kisses Four (1954) The Bramble Bush (1958) Rage of Desire (1958) Tiger by the Tail (1959) A Strange Innocence (1959) 22 Terrace Place (1961) Call After Six (1961) The Drums of April (1964)

Filmography Television Kraft Theatre"The Picture Window" (1954)"Split Level" (1954) Ponds Theater"See You on Sunday" (1954)"The Rugged Mountains" (1955) The Pepsi-Cola Playhouse"I'll Be Waiting" (story, 1955) Matinee Theatre"See You on Sunday" (1955)"Herself Alone" (1956) Star Tonight"Three Hours Between Planes" (adaptation, 1956) The Man Called X"Forged Documents" (story, 1957)

Film The Bramble Bush (novel, 1960)