publication, nor of the second volume of his autobiography. Viertel was best known for his novel White Hunter Black Heart, which was made into a film starring Clint Eastwood in 1990.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.surinenglish.com/noticias.php?Noticia=10689|title=Sur in English': "Peter Viertel author and screenwriter" May 31 2007|author=|date=|website=surinenglish.com|accessdate=15 February 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070929064303/http://www.surinenglish.com/noticias.php?Noticia=10689|archive-date=29 September 2007|url-status=dead}}</ref> It is a thinly-disguised account of Viertel's experiences working with film director John Huston while they were making The African Queen. The central character is scriptwriter Pete Verrill while the Huston character is called John Wilson. Film critic Pauline Kael wrote in 1999 that White Hunter was “still the best Hollywood novel I’ve ever come across — and it isn’t even set in Hollywood.” Viertel's opinion of the finished film was tempered by his idea that Huston himself would have preferred a portrayal with more sarcasm. Viertel's looks and personality were an inspiration for Robert Redford's character Hubbell Gardiner in The Way We Were. Of his screenwriting work for Hollywood productions, Viertel said that it was primarily a vehicle for income so that he could continue to write novels. Though he worked closely with movie professionals that he liked such as Billy Wilder and Huston, Viertel said there was always creative tension. Viertel is recognized for introducing surfing in Europe. In 1956, while on location in Biarritz for the filming of The Sun Also Rises, Viertel was so impressed by the waves that he sent for his surfboard from California and soon afterwards started Europe's first surf club. Viertel was twice married. His first wife was Virginia Ray "Jigee" Schulberg, the ex-wife of the novelist and screenwriter Budd Schulberg; she was pregnant with their only child, Christine, when Viertel abandoned her to live with the fashion model Simone Micheline "Bettina" Bodin. Varying sources show that Viertel and Jigee divorced in 1958, 1959, or were still separated but legally married upon her death in January 1960. Bettina left him for Prince Aly Khan in 1955, and was pregnant with Khan's child when he died in May 1960. Viertel's second wife was the actress Deborah Kerr, marrying her on 23 July 1960. Viertel was widowed by Kerr on 16 October 2007, just 19 days before he died from lymphoma while living in Marbella, Spain; he was 12 days shy of his 87th birthday. Through Kerr he had two stepdaughters, Melanie and Francesca Bartley. A filmed documentary by director Michael Scheingraber was in production at the time