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Famous writer, Sydney Sheldon, dies

The author Sidney Sheldon passed away Tuesday, due to complications of pneumonia, which contracted in the Eisenhower Hospital in California. His wife and daughter, the writer Marry Sheldon, were with him at the time. He was 89-years-old.

"I try to write my books so the reader can`t put them down," Sheldon explained in a 1982 interview. "I try to construct them so when the reader gets to the end of a chapter, he or she has to read just one more chapter. It`s the technique of the old Saturday afternoon serial: leave the guy hanging on the edge of the cliff at the end of the chapter."

Sheldon`s books, such as, "Rage of Angels," "The Other Side of Midnight," and "If Tomorrow Comes," often featured determined women who persevere in a tough world run by hostile men. He won awards in three careers: a Broadway playwright, a Hollywood TV and movie screenwriter, and a best-selling novelist. His TV works spanned a 20-year period during which he created I Dream of Jeannie, from 1965 to 1970, Hart to Hart, 1979 to 1984, and The Patty Duke Show, 1963 to 1966, but it was not until after he turned 50 and began writing best-selling novels such as Master of the Game (1982), The Other Side of Midnight (1973) and Rage of Angels (1980) that he became most famous. "I love writing books," he said. "When you do a novel you`re on your own. It`s a freedom that doesn`t exist in any other medium."