Robert Katz, American writer, died from complications from cancer surgery he was , 77

Robert Katz ^[1] was an American novelist, screenwriter, and non-fiction author died from complications from cancer surgery he was , 77.^[2]

(27 June 1933 – 20 October 2010)


Katz was born in Brooklyn, New York, the son of Sidney and Helen Katz, née Holland, and married Beverly Gerstel on September 22, 1957. The couple had two sons: Stephen Lee Katz, Jonathan Howard Katz.
He studied at Brooklyn College 1951-53 and went on to be a photojournalist, filmmaker, United Hias Service, NYC 1953-57. As a writer, he began at the American Cancer Society in New York (1958-63) and then at the United Nations in New York and Rome (1963-64). He has been a freelance writer since 1964.
He has fulfilled academic roles at numerous institutions, including being Visiting Professor of Investigative Journalism at the University of California, Santa Cruz (1986-92). Awarded an ongoing Guggenheim Fellowship in 1970, he has also been a fellow of Adlai E. Stevenson College; University of California during 1986 to 1992. He became a grantee of the American Council Learned Societies in 1971; and a recipient of the Laceno d'Oro (best screenplay) award at the Neorealist Film Festival in Avellino, Italy (1983).
A criminal-libel case involving Katz and others in Italy over the contents of his book Death in Rome, in which he was charged with "defaming the memory of the Pope" Pius XII regarding the Ardeatine Massacre of 335 Romans and 70 Jews at the Ardeatine Caves in 1944. The case ended with the charges being dismissed in 1980 by Italy's highest court. The suit had been issued by the Pope's family.^[3][4]
Katz lived for many years in Tuscany, Italy. He died October 20, 2010, in Montevarchi, Italy, as a result of complications from cancer surgery.^[5]

Non-fiction writings

• Death in Rome, Macmillan, 1967.
• Black Sabbath: A Journey through a Crime against Humanity, Macmillan, 1969.
• The Fall of the House of Savoy, Macmillan, 1971.
• A Giant in the Earth, Stein & Day, 1973.
• Days of Wrath: The Ordeal of Aldo Moro, the Kidnapping, the Execution, the Aftermath, Doubleday, 1980. (Pulitzer Prize nomination 1981)
• Il caso Moro (with G. Ferrara and A. Balducci) , Pironti, 1987.
• Love is Colder than Death: The Life and Times of Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Random House, 1987.
• Naked by the Window: The Fatal Marriage of Carl Andre and Ana Mendieta, Atlantic Monthly Press, 1990.
• Dossier Priebke, Rizzoli, 1997.
• The Battle for Rome: the Germans, the Allies, the Partisans and the Pope, September 1943-June 1944, Simon & Schuster, 2003.

Novels

• The Cassandra Crossing, Ballantine, 1976.
• Ziggurat, Houghton, 1977.
• The Spoils of Ararat, Houghton, 1978.

Filmography

• Massacre in Rome (1973) (book "Death in Rome") (screenplay)
• The Cassandra Crossing (1976) (screenplay) (story)
• The Salamander (1981) (writer)
• La pelle (1981) (screenplay)
• Kamikaze 1989 (1982) (writer)
• Dolce e selvaggio (1983) (English dialogue)
• Il Caso Moro (1986) (book Days of Wrath) (screenplay)
• Il Cugino americano (1986) (story)
• Hotel Colonial (1987) (writer)
• La Peste (1992) (narration)
• The Contractor (2007) (V) (story)

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