Norman Kingsley Mailer (January 31, 1923 – November 10, 2007) was an American novelist, journalist, essayist, playwright, activist, filmmaker and actor. In a career spanning over six decades, Mailer had 11 best-selling books, at least one in each of the seven decades after World War II—more than any other post-war American writer. His novel The Naked and the Dead was published in 1948 and brought him early renown. His 1968 nonfiction novel Armies of the Night won the Pulitzer Prize for non-fiction as well as the National Book Award. His best-known work is widely considered to be The Executioner's Song, the 1979 winner of the Pulitzer Prize for fiction. Mailer is considered an innovator of "creative non-fiction" or "New Journalism", along with Truman Capote, Joan Didion, Hunter S. Thompson, and Tom Wolfe, a genre which uses the style and devices of literary fiction in factual journalism. He was a cultural commentator and critic, expressing his views through his novels, journalism, frequent press appearances and essays, the most famous and reprinted of which is "The White Negro". In 1955, he and three others founded The Village Voice, an arts and politics-oriented weekly newspaper distributed in Greenwich Village. In 1960, Mailer was convicted of assault and served a three-year probation after he stabbed his wife Adele Morales with a penknife, nearly killing her. In 1969, he ran an unsuccessful campaign to become the mayor of New York. Mailer was married six times and had nine children. Description above from the Wikipedia article Norman Mailer, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
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Biography from TMDB.
- January 31, 1923
- November 10, 2007 (aged 84)
- Long Branch, New Jersey, USA
- Writer, actor, director and producer
- 12 on MovieCove · 23 credits in all
What are Norman Mailer's films like?
Across their 13 MovieCove titles with a thematic analysis, their films lean Self and Society.
Genres
Their MovieCove films by primary genre. The badge is the typical Midcredits score of the genre's films, the median percentile; an up arrow marks a genre at or above their average across these genres.
Themes
What they feel like to watch
Ironic 2 · Wry 0 · Earnest 11
A split, not a type: Light 3 · Serious 4 · Dark 6
A split, not a type: Grounded 9 · Stylized 1 · Heightened 3
Gentle 2 · Charged 9 · Intense 2
A split, not a type: Steady 7 · Shifting 3 · Whiplash 3
Straight-faced 9 · Some laughs 4 · Funny 0
Slow burn 8 · Even-paced 5 · Relentless 0
Casual 3 · Engaged 6 · Full focus 4
A split, not a type: Easy watch 5 · Affecting 4 · Heavy 4
A split, not a type: Resolved 8 · Open-ended 2 · Ambiguous 3
Roles they play
- Mentoras Harry Houdini in Cremaster 2 (1999)
- Heroas Norman Mailer in How to Come Alive with Norman Mailer (2023)
Moods and endings
- Happy2
- Bittersweet2
- Tragic6
- Ambiguous3
AI-generated from each title's plot synopsis and cast list, with extra plot summaries, reviews and Parents Guide notes for titles the model may not know, and the model's own knowledge of the ones it recognizes. Only analyzed titles count, so this covers part of the filmography; the feel axes count films only for now.
Where can I watch Norman Mailer's films?
As of October 24, 2026, 3 of their 12 MovieCove titles stream on a subscription or free service.
Subscription and free streaming for Norman Mailer's titles on MovieCove; rent and buy are not counted. Titles are listed by Midcredits score, highest first, at most 12 per service; a dashed chip is a producer credit or a minor one, such as a thanks. A service opens the browse page, which counts movies only, so its number can differ.
Filmography
23 credits, 12 with a MovieCove page; 36 appearances as themselves are hidden until asked for.
Love, Marilyn(2012)
Midcredits score: 80th percentile of all films
Midcredits score: 37th percentile of all films
Master Spy: The Robert Hanssen Story (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2002)
American Tragedy (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2000)
Gilmore Girls(2000)
Midcredits score: 92nd percentile of all shows
Keep the River on Your Right: A Modern Cannibal Tale (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2000)
Cremaster 2(1999)
Midcredits score: 65th percentile of all films
Baby Trouble Hole (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1996)
King Lear(1987)
Midcredits score: 41st percentile of all films
Tough Guys Don't Dance(1987)
Midcredits score: 20th percentile of all films
The Executioner's Song (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1982)
The Executioner's Song(1982)
Midcredits score: 75th percentile of all films
Ragtime(1981)
Midcredits score: 86th percentile of all films
Midcredits score: 58th percentile of all films
Town Bloody Hall(1979)
Midcredits score: 82nd percentile of all films
Maidstone (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1971)
Norman Mailer vs. Fun City (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1970)
Double Pisces, Scorpio Rising (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1970)
Beyond the Law (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1968)
Wild 90 (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1968)
An American Dream(1966)
Midcredits score: 13th percentile of all films
The Naked and the Dead(1958)
Midcredits score: 59th percentile of all films
Untitled (Millicent's Dream) (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1947)
Career shape
Star power in the 69th percentile of 239,109 people with a billed film role, over a full career of 22 titles from 1947 to 2002; peak year 1999.
Biggest box office
When We Were Kings (1996)
Highest rated
When We Were Kings (1996)
Most popular right now
The Executioner's Song (1982)
Film career
Peak 1999 · steadily prominent in film for years. Film roles by billing, audience size and rating; 25+ votes. A show carries a single first-air date, so shows are not on the curve.
- 1981Screen debut· Ragtime
- 1999First top-billed film· Cremaster 2
Counts from TMDB across their full career, self appearances out; a title counts in every role they held on it. The ring is the typical Midcredits score (the median percentile) of the role's titles that are on MovieCove, shown from 5 scored.
How do Norman Mailer's films land?
Their typical MovieCove film has a Midcredits score in the 59th percentile, the median of all 11; across their 13 films with reception data, the typical film sits in the 64th percentile for acclaim.
- 75th and up5
- 50th to 74th3
- 25th to 49th2
- Below 25th2
Shape of the crowd
5 of their 12 titles are Crowd Pleasers.
- Universally Loved1
- Cult Classic1
- Crowd Pleaser5
- Mixed5
Reviewers score the dialogue 45/100 and the plot and story 45/100 in their films, across 12 reviewed titles. The element that speaks to their work as a writer.
Percentiles are each film's standing among all films on MovieCove; the typical film is the median, so one outlier cannot drag it. Percentiles and reviewer scores count the films IMDb credits them on, for now; the Midcredits score bands, the shape of the crowd and the two cards count their MovieCove titles, shows included (a show ranked among shows), appearances as themselves left out. A descriptor is the shape of a title's IMDb rating distribution against the catalog; "most divisive" needs a spread wider than half of all titles, and a card names only a principal credit: a craft role, and on a show a crew role or a run of episodes, never a courtesy credit or a one-off guest spot.
Who does Norman Mailer work with?
People who share at least 2 of Norman Mailer's MovieCove titles, grouped by what they did on them; Lawrence Schiller shares the most, 3.
Directors
- Lawrence SchillerShared titles: Master Spy: The Robert Hanssen Story (2002), The Executioner's Song (1982), Marilyn: The Untold Story (1980)See all 3 shared titles with Lawrence Schiller
Actors
- Muhammad AliShared titles: Norman Mailer: The American (2010), When We Were Kings (1996)See all 2 shared titles with Muhammad Ali
Cinematographers
- Maryse AlbertiShared titles: Love, Marilyn (2012), When We Were Kings (1996)See all 2 shared titles with Maryse Alberti
Producers
- Menahem GolanShared titles: King Lear (1987), Tough Guys Don't Dance (1987)See all 2 shared titles with Menahem Golan
- Tom LuddyShared titles: King Lear (1987), Tough Guys Don't Dance (1987)See all 2 shared titles with Tom Luddy
- Yoram GlobusShared titles: King Lear (1987), Tough Guys Don't Dance (1987)See all 2 shared titles with Yoram Globus
