The Executioner’s Song

Authors

  • Lawrence Schiller Author

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.68910/hf230d95

Keywords:

The Executioner's Song, literary collaboration

Abstract

Lawrence Schiller recounts the origins and evolution of his nearly thirty-five-year collaboration with Norman Mailer, focusing on The Executioner's Song (1979). He details the genesis of the Gilmore project: his initial reporting trips to Utah, his efforts to secure exclusive access, and his search for a writer capable of transforming his interviews into literature. Throughout, Schiller reflects on his role as researcher, producer, and — ultimately — as a character within the book itself, serving as Mailer's surrogate and the narrative link between its two central figures.

Author Biography

  • Lawrence Schiller

    Lawrence Schiller is a photographer, journalist, filmmaker, and author whose career has spanned six decades. His iconic images of Robert F. Kennedy, Richard Nixon, Marilyn Monroe, Muhammad Ali, and others appeared in Life, Look, Newsweek, Time, Paris Match, and the London Sunday Times. He directed portions of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969) and co-directed Peter the Great (1986), the Emmy Award–winning television miniseries.

    Perhaps nothing in Schiller's career proved more remarkable than his collaboration with Norman Mailer — a friendship unique in American literary history. For nearly thirty-five years the two worked closely together on books including Marilyn (1973), The Faith of Graffiti (1974), Oswald's Tale (1995), and The Executioner's Song (1979), for which Mailer won the Pulitzer Prize. Schiller conceived of The Executioner's Song, conducted much of its research and interviews, and secured exclusive access to its subject, Gary Gilmore; he later produced and directed the award-winning television miniseries based on the book, starring Tommy Lee Jones. Upon Mailer's death in 2008, Schiller was named President and Co-Founder of the Norman Mailer Center and Writers Colony in Provincetown, Massachusetts. His historical archives reside at the Dolph Briscoe Center for American History at the University of Texas at Austin.

The Mailer Review v.16: 20 Years of the Review

Downloads

Published

2026-11-04

Issue

Vol. 16 (2026): Special Edition: 20 Years of the Review

Section

V. Voice and Encounter: Interviews and Conversations

How to Cite

Schiller, Lawrence. “The Executioner’s Song”. The Mailer Review, vol. 16, no. 1, Nov. 2026, pp. 177–194, https://doi.org/10.68910/hf230d95.