Copywriter king dies at 87

By / Sally Hooton / In In the News /

He was known around the world as ‘The Godfather of Gore’ for the bloody-thirsty ‘splatter’ movies he produced and directed back in the 60s. But we knew him better as the King of Killer Copy, the professor of English who made words his weapon of choice and taught marketers how to poke ’em directly at their audience so they wouldn’t forget ’em.

Herschell Gordon Lewis has died in his sleep at his Florida home, aged 87. Just a month ago, he emailed us here at The GMA to point us to an article written about him. He said: “Here’s a comment I wasn’t expecting – for this one day, I’m a celebrity.”

But he was, truly, always a celebrity – walking with him round the stands of the big USA DMA fall show 15 years ago, I felt the vibe of the red carpet as exhibitors and visitors shouted greetings, smiled and waved, even saluted him. I was walking with royalty; the copywriter king.

He was into his 70s by then and had reached a time when he said just what he liked, whether politically correct or not. To me, a journalist, he once remarked when we were discussing changes at the USA DMA: “Being a member of the DMA is like having an idiot child. You love it, but…” He then smiled serenely, daring me to print it. Now I have!

I enjoyed many lunches out with him and his wife Margot, talking about their intrepid globetrotting, as he quoted: “Gathering rosebuds while we may.” They were always great company and enormously good fun.

Read his words of wisdom – which have enduring merit – on this site: search for our long-time ‘Copy Class’ columnist Herschell Gordon Lewis and read his features. Meanwhile, watch his performance on our old DMI magazine ad, below. He wrote the copy and the orange plastic gun was his idea.

HGL, RIP. Missing you already.

[youtube id=”g0fdaGGjXVQ”]

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Author: Sally Hooton

Editor at The GMA | www.the-gma.com

Trained as a journalist from the age of 18 and enjoying a long career in regional newspaper reporting and editing, Sally Hooton joined DMI (Direct Marketing International) magazine as editor in 2001. DMI then morphed into The GMA, taking her with it!