Max Ehrlich

Max Simon Ehrlich (October 10, 1909 – February 11, 1983) was an American writer. He is best known for the novel The Reincarnation of Peter Proud and the movie of the same name.

Max Simon Ehrlich was born in Springfield, Massachusetts on October 10, 1909, to Simon and Sarah Ehrlich. After attending White Street, Forest Park Junior High, and Central High schools, he attended Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute with plans to be a chemical engineer. He went from there to the University of Michigan, from which he received a B.A. degree in journalism in 1933.

Despite having a college degree, Ehrlich was unable to find work in the Great Depression economy. He said, "I couldn't even get a job mowing someone's lawn for 50 cents an hour." He decided to try writing, bought a used typewriter for $10, and left home with only that typewriter.

Ehrlich began his career in newspapers, working as a correspondent for the Albany, New York Knickerbocker Press and Evening News during his college years, then after graduating as a feature writer for the Springfield, Massachusetts Republican. From there he turned to radio, working as the chief writer of the script division of WSPR in 1938 and 1939, in the script division of the American Jewish Committee from 1939 to 1941, and from 1941 to 1945 he was the assistant script director of the radio division of the American Red Cross.

After 1945, Ehrlich was a novelist, playwright, radio and TV dramatist, and author of adaptations for radio, television, and feature films. He wrote radio scripts for series including The Big Story, The Shadow, Big Town, Mr. and Mrs. North, and Murder at Midnight. His television work included scripts for the series Barney Blake, Police Reporter, The Big Story, The Defenders, The Nurses, The United States Steel Hour, and Star Trek (episode "The Apple"). Three of his feature film scripts (listed below) were adaptations of his own novels.^{[citation needed]}

Ehrlich married Margaret Druckman and had two daughters. One daughter, Amy Ehrlich, is a writer of books for children.^{[citation needed]} He died on February 11, 1983, in Los Angeles, California, aged 73.

Ehrlich's papers are stored in the Archives and Museum Collections of the Wisconsin Historical Society.

• The Big Eye (Doubleday, 1949)
• Spin the Glass Web (Harper & Brothers, 1952)
• First Train to Babylon (Harper, 1955)
• The Takers (Harper, 1961)
• Deep is the Blue (Doubleday, 1964)
• The High Side (Fawcett Publications, 1970)
• The Edict (Doubleday, 1971)
• The Reincarnation of Peter Proud (Bobbs-Merrill, 1974)
• The Savage is Loose (Bantam Books, 1974)
• The Cult (Simon & Schuster, 1978)
• Reincarnation in Venice (Simon & Schuster, 1979)
• Naked Beach (Granada, 1979)
• The Big Boys (Houghton Mifflin, 1981)
• Shaitan (Arbor House, 1981)

• 1944: Writers' War Board Award
• 1963: Huntington Hartford Foundation Fellowship