The day before he died at age 94, while Len Lamensdorf was being treated in the ER for heart failure, he was also fielding offers, through his suddenly savvy nurses, from production companies in Hollywood. They were waging a bidding war to option Len’s most recent screenplay. It was the 2024 update of his ’70s movie, Cornbread, Earl and Me, which was, and still is, revered in the Black community.
Born in Chicago, Len finished high school and college on the same day. After graduating with honors from the University of Chicago Law School, and Harvard University, his first career was law. He even pled cases before the Supreme Court. Later, Len built and leased shopping centers. He was also a prolific, prize-winning author and member of our Writers in the Trenches group that met for lunch, at Harry’s Plaza Café, in Loreto Plaza, every other Thursday.
Len always arrived for lunch in his classic, silver Mercedes sedan. And he always wore his perfect, crisp, pink, button-down, oxford cloth shirt, which his wife had ironed for him.
While the rest of us checked the specials at Harry’s, our waiter never gave Len a menu. The server knew that our colleague would order a tuna salad sandwich on whole wheat, eat half, and take the rest home to his wife’s cat.
As we sat around the table discussing our victories, latest ideas, publishers, pitches, and devastating rejection letters, we shared resources and encouraged each other to keep on going. I remember Len’s “keep goings” as some of the most sincere.
He was our token Republican. But we loved him anyway.
A constant self-promoter, Len could be found each year in his booth at the Santa Barbara Book and Author Festival, as well as the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books.
His body of work includes Kane’s World, published by Simon & Schuster, and In the Blood, from Delacorte. He also wrote The Ballad of Billy Lee: George Washington’s Favorite Slave, which became a powerful one-man show that Santa Barbara audiences loved.
I miss his almost-daily phone calls during the year before he died. He was relentless in his determination to get Cornbread 2 produced while he was still here. And although there probably aren’t any Hollywood talent agents in Heaven, I’d bet my last laptop that our colleague has sold the rights to his screenplay and is sending his trademark two-hour delivery FedEx packages, with his script enclosed, to Laurence Fishburne and Bronny James, to play the leads.
Born June 22, 1930, in Chicago, to Maurice and Gertrude Lamensdorf, who were in the schmata business, Len was married three times. His last and best wife was Erica Mamis.
He had two children. His daughter, Lauren, died while still quite young. He is survived by his wife, Erica; a son, Mark; and five grandchildren.
Len once said: “When asked what I do, I sometimes say, ‘I am a lawyer by profession, a regional shopping center owner-builder by trade, and a writer by choice.”
To celebrate Len’s long, creative lifetime, and the work he left behind, order a tuna sandwich on whole wheat for lunch at Harry’s. Then raise your glass to good writing.
Bye, Len. Thanks for being with us. Thanks for being you.