Rodney William Whitaker was an American film scholar and writer who wrote several novels under the pen name Trevanian. Whitaker wrote in a wide variety of genres, achieved bestseller status, and published under several other names as well, including Nicholas Seare, Beñat Le Cagot and Edoard Moran. He published the non-fiction book The Language of Film under his own name.
Between 1972 and 1983, five of his novels sold more than a million copies each. He was described as "the only writer of airport paperbacks to be compared to Zola, Ian Fleming, Poe and Chaucer." Whitaker adamantly avoided publicity for most of his life. His real name was a closely held secret until 1998, when a reporter for the Austin American-Statesman published it.
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