Mickey Spillane was born Frank Morrison Spillane, on March 9, 1918. Spillane was the only son of an Irish bartender and a Scottish mother. He worked briefly as a lifeguard and then as a trampoline artist for the Ringling Bros. and Barnum and Bailey Circus, before joining the Army Air Corps during WW II (which later became the Airforce) as a fighter pilot and flight instructor. Following the war he launched his writing career in earnest.

Spillane created Mike Hammer, the hard-boiled detective who, along with Philip Marlowe and Sam Spade, helped define the golden age of crime fiction.

For a great tribute, visit the Rap Sheet’s post on “Spillane’s Hundred.”