Erwin “Mick” Nathanson, a local author best known for writing the novel that inspired the film “The Dirty Dozen,” died at his Laguna Niguel home April 5. He was 88.
Nathanson was born in 1928 in New York City and had several writing and editing jobs on the East Coast before moving to California in 1959.
In 1965, he wrote the best-selling World War II novel “The Dirty Dozen,” which told the fictional story of 12 service members – who previously had been convicted of serious crimes – who were sent on a suicide mission to blow up a chateau occupied by Nazi officers just before D-Day. By 1967, MGM had made the novel into a film starring Lee Marvin, Ernest Borgnine, Robert Ryan, John Cassavetes, Charles Bronson and Richard Jaeckel.
Nathanson went on to write several other novels, including “The Latecomers”; “A Dirty, Distant War,” which was the sequel to “The Dirty Dozen”; “It Gave Everybody Something to Do”; “Knight’s Cross”; and “Lovers and Schemers.” Whether he was writing a war story, a combat novel or a family drama, Nathanson was a meticulous researcher who wanted to make his settings and characters real to life, said Frank McAdams, a friend of Nathanson’s since 1970.
The two met while McAdams was a sports editor for the Laguna News Post. Nathanson had come into the newsroom to be interviewed about “The Dirty Dozen,” and the two struck up a friendship that lasted 46 years.
“He was interested in me because I was a Vietnam combat veteran, having served with the 1st Marine Division,” McAdams said. “Over the years, we spent a lot of time getting together over lunch or playing tennis and talking about different projects.”
Writing was easily the most important thing in Nathanson’s life, said Elizabeth Henderson, Nathanson’s wife since 1985. Although arthritis hampered his ability to type for prolonged periods this year, he wrote up until the day he died, she said. “He was always planning the next book, the next story,” Henderson said. “When I look at his desk, it’s still full of notes and newspaper clippings about things he wanted to write.”
Nathanson was a good husband and devoted father, though he sometimes had to be pried away from his desk for things like Easter dinner, Henderson said.
“It’s been very sad for our family,” Henderson said. “He was a wonderful person who was always good to our family and very kind and accepting of others.”
Nathanson’s friends and family will stage a celebration of his life at 4 p.m. Sunday at the Aventura Sailing Association banquet facility, 24707 Dana Drive, Dana Point.
Nathanson is survived by his wife, Elizabeth Henderson; a half brother, Donald; a son, Michael; and two daughters, Larisa and Adriana.
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