Patricia Highsmith (January 19, 1921 - February 4, 1995) was an American novelist who is known mainly for her psychological crime thrillers. She acquired world renown for Strangers on a Train, which has been adapted to the screen a number of times, most famously by Alfred Hitchcock in 1951.
A bisexual, many of her novels include homosexual overtones, and her lesbian novel The Price of Salt -- rejected by her publishers -- was published under the pseudonym Claire Morgan in 1953 and sold almost a million copies. Born in Fort Worth, Texas she spent most of her life living in France and Switzerland, and was long widely appreciated in Europe while suffering relative obscurity in the U.S.
Her character Tom Ripley became her most popular, a morally ambiguous bisexual thief and occasional murderer first introduced in The Talented Mr. Ripley. This was filmed by René Clément in 1960 as Plein Soleil (Purple Noon), starring Alain Delon. It was also adapted under its original title as a 1999 film by Anthony Minghella, starring Matt Damon, Gwyneth Paltrow, Jude Law and Cate Blanchett. A later novel, Ripley's Game, inspired Wim Wenders' 1977 film The American Friend.
Well-known works include:
