1985), Ask the Dust (1939) and finally Dreams from Bunker Hill (1982), which was dictated to his wife, Joyce, “from his hospital bed.” His short story collection, Dago Red, was originally published in 1940, and then republished with a few additional stories in 1985 under the title The Wine of Youth. Starting in the 1950s, Fante made a living primarily as a screenwriter, building a lucrative career writing mostly unproduced screenplays. According to a local historian, “He wrote movie scripts with drinking partner William Faulkner in the 1940s, and was still active in the studios in the 1950s and 1960s.” Fante's screenwriting credits include the comedy-drama Full of Life (1957), based on his 1952 novel of the same name, which starred Judy Holliday and Richard Conte, and was nominated for Best Written American Comedy at the 1957 WGA Awards. He also co-wrote Walk on the Wild Side (1962), which stars Jane Fonda in her second credited film role, based on the novel by Nelson Algren. His other screenplay credits include Dinky, Jeanne Eagels, My Man and I, The Reluctant Saint, Something for a Lonely Man, and Six Loves. As Fante himself often admitted, most of what he wrote for the screen was simply hackwork intended to bring in a paycheck. In the late 1970s, at the suggestion of novelist and poet Charles Bukowski, who had accidentally discovered Fante's work in the Los Angeles Public Library, Black Sparrow Press began to republish the (then out-of-print) works of Fante, creating a resurgence in his popularity. Later life and death Fante was diagnosed with diabetes in 1955, which ultimately cost him his eyesight and led to the 1977 amputation of his toes and feet, and later legs. He died on May 8, 1983. Fante and Joyce raised four children in Malibu, California, including Dan Fante, an author and playwright who died in 2015. Legacy and recognition He is known to be one of the first to portray the tough times faced by many writers in Los Angeles, and is often referred to as "the quintessential L.A. novelist." He has also been cited as a precursor to Beat writers. Robert Towne has called Ask the Dust the greatest novel ever written about Los Angeles. Michael Tolkin said the novel should be "mandatory reading" in the Los Angeles school system. More than 60 years after it was published, Ask the Dust appeared for several weeks