Joseph Wambaugh Dies: ‘The Onion Field’ Writer, ‘Police Story’ Creator Was 88

Joseph Wambaugh, the writer who mined his years as a Los Angeles Police Department patrolman for a series of bestselling crime books including The Onion Field, The New Centurions, The Blue Knight and The Glitter Dome, and whose literary works were adapted for feature films and television series, died today of esophageal cancer at his home in Rancho Mirage, California. He was 88.

His death was reported to The New York Times by a Wambaugh family friend.

In 1971, eleven years after joining the LAPD, Wambaugh saw his first novel, The New Centurions, published by Little, Brown and Co. The story of rookie LAPD cops in the early 1960s became his first bestseller and, the following year, the first movie based on his work. The film adaptation starred George C. Scott and Stacy Keach.

The New Centurions novel was followed by a string of police novels, including 1972’s The Blue Knight (later adapted for both an NBC TV-movie starring William Holden and a CBS series with George Kennedy).

His non-fiction book The Onion Field, published in 1973, would stand as, arguably, his literary masterpiece, a skillful telling of the true tale of a 1963 kidnapping of two LAPD officers and the brutal murder of one of them. An acclaimed 1979 film adaptation directed by Harold Becker starred John Savage, James Woods, Franklyn Seales and Ted Danson.

Other novels followed The Choirboys (1975), The Black Marble (1978), The Glitter Dome (1981), The Delta Star (1983), The Secrets of Harry Bright (1985), The Golden Orange (1990), Fugitive Nights: Danger in the Desert (1992), Finnegan’s Week (1993) and Floaters (1996). Non-fiction works included Lines and Shadows (1984), Echoes in the Darkness (1984), The Blooding: The True Story of the Narborough Village Murders (1989) and Fire Lover: A True Story (2002).

Another of Wambaugh’s most revered projects was the 1973-1978 NBC series Police Story, which he created and developed. The gritty cop series paved the way for later series celebrated for a new realism such as NYPD Blue and even ER.

Born on January 22, 1937, in East Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Wambaugh joined the U.S. Marine Corps in 1954, and, later followed in his police chief father’s footsteps by joining the LAPD where over 14 years he would reach the rank of detective sergeant. Throughout his training and service, he continued studying and writing.

Wambaugh is survived by wife Dee, son David and daughter Jeanette. Son Mark died in a 1984 car accident at age 21.