Author Tom Clancy, best known for The Hunt for Red October and the Splinter Cell video game series, has reportedly died. He was 66-years-old.
The news was first confirmed to the New York Times’ book publishing reporter Julie Bosman. She first tweeted that his publisher said that he had died at a Baltimore hospital Tuesday night. Ivan Held, the president of Putnam, later told her “He was a thrill to work with.”
According to Business Insider, Publishers Weekly also sent out a tweet confirming the sad news.
Clancy was born in Baltimore on April 17, 1947 and became a bestselling author known for espionage thrillers. He created the Jack Ryan character, who appeared in the novels The Hunt for Red October and Patriot Games. The character was played by Harrison Ford in the film adaptations of those two novels, as well as Clear and Present Danger.
Ben Affleck played Jack Ryan in 2002’s The Sum of All Fears. Paramount is currently bringing the character back to the movies with Jack Ryan: Shadow One, which stars Chris Pine. That hits theaters on Dec. 25 and was directed by Kenneth Branagh.
He also co-founded video game company Red Storm Entertainment, which was recently sold to UbiSoft. His name is attached to the highly successful Splinter Cell franchise.
Check back for more updates on this developing story.
Tom Clancy's publisher confirms to the NYT that he died last night in a hospital in Baltimore.
— Julie Bosman (@juliebosman) October 2, 2013
image: Amazon