Universal PicturesAuthor Elmore Leonard passed away on Tuesday, Aug. 20, but his legacy will certainly live on.
The late 87-year-old wrote more than 45 books and dozens of short stories throughout his illustrious career, and many of these tales were turned into movies or adapted for TV.
George Clooney and Jennifer Lopez starred in the 1998 Steven Soderbergh film Out of Sight, based on Leonard's book of the same, while John Travolta and Danny DeVito starred in the 1995 flick Get Shorty, also based on the book of the same name.
"I was very fond of Elmore Leonard," Travolta said in a statement today. "And the joy of his writing inspired so many great artists...He put the icing on the cake of my career with Get Shorty."
As for the small screen, the FX series Justified, starring Timothy Olyphant, is based on a version of Leonard's novels Pronto and Riding the Rap, as well as his short story, "Fire in the Hole."
"I've sold 20, maybe, to movies, because from the beginning, I was in it to make money," he said in 2012, per USA Today. "And that's the way to do it."
"My purpose is to entertain and please myself," he added. "I feel that if I am entertained, then there will be enough other readers who will be entertained, too."