Philip MacDonald

British novelist 'Philip MacDonald' (qv) was born in London, England, in 1901. His grandfather was the Scottish novelist 'George MacDonald' (qv). As a young man Philip was an excellent horseman; prior to World War I he trained horses bought from Argentina for the British army, and when war broke out he enlisted in the army and was posted to a cavalry unit in Mesopotamia (modern-day Iraq).He began writing while in the army, and his first detective novel--the genre for which he is best known--was "The Rasp", published in 1924, which introduced his main character, a detective named Col. Anthony Gethryn. This was followed by a dozen more novels featuring Gethryn. MacDonald didn't confine himself solely to crime thrillers, however. His novel "The Patrol" (1927) was about a squad of British soldiers on patrol in the Mesopotamian desert during World War I and have to survive constant attacks and ambushes by rampaging Arab bands. It was filmed, quite successfully, by director 'John Ford' (qv) as _The Lost Patrol (1934)_ (qv) in 1934.MacDonald also wrote original screenplays, but his most famous credit was probably his adaptation of Daphne DuMaurier's novel for 'Alfred Hitchcock' (qv)'s _Rebecca (1940)_ (qv); he also turned to writing for television, penning episodes of series as diverse as _Wagon Train (1957)_ (qv), 'Alfred Hitchcock' (qv) Presents (1955), _The Virginian (1962)_ (qv) and _Robert Montgomery Presents (1950)_ (qv).'Philip MacDonald' (qv) died in Woodland Hills, CA, in 1980.::[email protected]