Charles Bukowski

Charles Bukowski (August 16, 1920 ? March 9, 1994), was a Los Angeles poet and novelist. Bukowski is sometimes associated with the Beat Generation writers because of his informal style and non-conformist literary attitude, though he did not identify himself as a Beat. Bukowski closely associated his works with his home city of Los Angeles and wrote over fifty books before his death on March 9, 1994.

In film

• Tales of Ordinary Madness (1981) - Ben Gazzara plays Charles Serking, a character loosely based on Bukowski's autobiographical character Henry Chinaski. The slow and stiffly acted film never found an audience, and Bukowski - though friendly with Gazzara - panned the actor's performance.
• The film Barfly (1987) starring Mickey Rourke and written by Bukowski himself, was based on his life, the main character being his alter-ego, Henry Chinaski. His novel Hollywood was based on the tribulations of making this film.
• The same year Barfly debuted (1987), the Belgian film Crazy Love directed by Dominique Deruddere, was released. Based on the Bukowski story The Copulating Mermaid of Venice, California, and portions of Ham on Rye, the film tells the story of a man's life by spotlighting three different nights spread over 20 years. Crazy Love was cited by Bukowski as his favorite film adaptation of his work.
• A documentary entitled Bukowski: Born Into This was released in American theaters on July 9, 2004, generally to good reviews. Actor Sean Penn as well as musicians Tom Waits and Bono, friends and fans of Bukowski, appear in the film.
• An adaptation of Bukowski's second novel, Factotum, was shot in Minnesota in 2004 and premiered 2005-04-12 at the Kosmorama film festival in Trondheim, Norway. It was directed by Bent Hamer, and Matt Dillon plays the role of Henry Chinaski.