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Thomas E. Gaddis (September 14, 1908 - October 10, 1984) was a United States author, most noted for his book Birdman of Alcatraz. Thomas E. Gaddis was born in Denver, Colorado. He wrote many non-fiction books that were mostly biographies. He wrote books like Birdman of Alcatraz (1955) about convicted murderer Robert Stroud, or A Journal of Murder (1970), about American serial killer Carl Panzram.

The author, born Thomas Eugene Gaddis, wrote Birdman of Alcatraz in 1955. The biography became one of the nation's best-known prison biographies. Birdman of Alcatraz was the story of Robert Stroud, amazingly, the grandson of a Federal judge, who was sentenced to life in solitary confinement after stabbing a guard to death in Leavenworth Federal prison in Kansas. He was serving time in Leavenworth as a consequence of a slaying he committed in Alaska. While in solitary in Leavenworth, Stroud became an expert on birds, writing Stroud's Digest of the Diseases of Birds in Leavenworth from 1939 to 1941.

In 1962, Birdman of Alcatraz was adapted for the screen starring Burt Lancaster as Stroud.

Gaddis worked as a court consultant and on various writing projects.He is also well-known for the following quote:

He died in Portland, Oregon on October 10, 1984 at age 76. He was portrayed by Edmond O'Brien in the 1962 film Birdman of Alcatraz.

Thomas E. Gaddis

This author page uses material from the Wikipedia article "Thomas E. Gaddis", which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share-Alike License 3.0