William Gordon Merrick (3 August 1916 – 27 March 1988) was a Broadway actor, wartime OSS field officer, best-selling author of gay-themed novels, and one of the first authors to write about homosexual themes for a mass audience.

William Gordon Merrick was born in Bala Cynwyd, Pennsylvania, a suburb of Philadelphia. His father, Rodney King Merrick, was a manager of a truck company who eventually became a bank manager. His mother was the former Mary Cartwright Gordon (b. 26 July 1893, in Natchez, Mississippi). His only sibling was his older brother Samuel.^[1] Gordon and Samuel were great-grandsons of the Philadelphia philanthropist Samuel Vaughn Merrick (1801–1870).^{[citation needed]}

Merrick enrolled in Princeton University in 1936, studied French literature, and was active in campus theater. He quit in the middle of his junior year and moved to New York City, where he became an actor, landing the role of Richard Stanley in George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart's The Man Who Came to Dinner. Merrick became Hart's lover for a time,^[2] but tired of the theater, with its endless nights playing the same role.^[3]

In 1941, Merrick quit Broadway to become a reporter. Exempt from the draft because of hearing problems, Merrick moved to Washington, D.C., where he got a job with the Washington Star. He later worked for the Baltimore Sun, before returning to New York City to write for the New York Post. His years as a reporter helped him to develop a love of writing as well as a writing style.^[3]

Eager to participate in World War II, Merrick got a job with the Office of Strategic Services, the forerunner to the Central Intelligence Agency. He was sent to Algeria as a counter-intelligence officer, rising to the civilian rank of captain. He was diverted to France and took up residence in Cannes. Because he spoke excellent French, the OSS gave him papers listing him as a French citizen. He was case officer for the double agent code-named "Forest".^{[citation needed]}

In August 1945, Merrick returned to the United States. He again sought work as a reporter, but did not find employment, so he went to Mexico and began writing novels.

Merrick's first novel, The Strumpet Wind (1947), was successful in the United States.^[4] The somewhat autobiographical novel is about a gay American spy in France during World War II. Homosexual themes are minimized in the novel, which explores concepts of individual liberty and freedom. The spy's director is a dazzlingly handsome, but sadistic, bisexual.

With the money he earned from his success, Merrick returned to France to continue writing.

In 1956, when Merrick was 40, he met Charles Gerard Hulse, who was working in Paris at the time – a 27-year-old American dancer and actor (b. 26 March 1929, Arkansas). Hulse became his lifetime companion. The following year, they began living together, but Hulse returned to the U.S. for four years to work as a dance instructor in Marin County, California.

In 1960, Hulse returned to Paris to be with Merrick; the two remained together until Merrick’s death.^[5]

After moving to France, and then to Greece, Merrick continued to write. He published three further novels in the 1950s, but success eluded him.

Gordon Merrick died of lung cancer aged 71 in Colombo, Sri Lanka, on 27 March 1988. He was survived by his partner of 29 years, Charles G. Hulse, and his brother and nephews.^[5]

• The Strumpet Wind. New York: William Morrow & Co., 1947. Reprinted in paperback as The Night and the Naked. New York: Popular Library, 1952.
• The Demon of Noon. New York: Julian Messner Inc., 1954.
• The Vallency Tradition. New York: Julian Messner Inc., 1955. Reprinted as Between Darkness and Day. London: R. Hale, 1957.
• The Hot Season. New York: William Morrow & Co., 1958. Reprinted as The Eye of One. London: R. Hale, 1959.
• The Lord Won't Mind. New York: Bernard Geis Associates, 1970. ISBN 1-55583-290-3
• One for the Gods. New York: Bernard Geis Associates, 1971. ISBN 0-380-00133-0
• Forth Into Light. New York: Avon Books, 1974. ISBN 0-380-01195-6
• An Idol for Others. New York: Avon Books, 1977. ISBN 0-380-00971-4
• The Quirk. New York: Avon Books, 1978. ISBN 0-380-38992-4
• Now Let's Talk About Music. New York: Avon Books, 1981. ISBN 0-380-77867-X
• Perfect Freedom. New York: Avon Books, 1982. ISBN 0-380-80127-2
• The Great Urge Downward. New York: Avon Books, 1984. ISBN 1-55583-296-2
• A Measure of Madness. New York: Warner Books, 1986. ISBN 0-446-30240-6
• The Good Life. Alyson Publications, 1997. ISBN 1-55583-298-9 (published posthumously; this manuscript was discovered in the papers of Charles G. Hulse, who co-authored the final work)