Joe Odom (attorney)


Joseph Algerine Odom was an American attorney who later became a musician. He came to prominence after his appearance as one of the main characters in John Berendt's true-crime book Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, although he died three years before its publication.

Biography

Odom was born in Claxton, Georgia, on March 22, 1948. He later moved to Savannah, where he was a "ne'er-do-well" attorney.

Death

Odom died on November 2, 1991, of complications from AIDS. He was 43, and was living at the time in an apartment inside Savannah's Hamilton-Turner House, which Nancy Hillis purchased in 1991. He is buried, in a family plot in Bull Creek Cemetery in his hometown of Claxton, beside his father, Herman,

''Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil''

In John Berendt's book Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, Odom was portrayed as the love interest of Mandy Nichols; however, Nancy Hillis, upon whom Nichols was based, has stated that there was no romantic relationship between her and Odom, who was gay. They performed music together only and owned a bar, Sweet Georgia Brown's, in Savannah's City Market. Hillis also said that, contrary to what Berendt wrote, she and Odom did not meet until Odom had moved from 16 East Jones Street in Savannah to 101 East Oglethorpe Avenue. Odom died three years before the book's 1994 release. Hillis died in 2016, aged 67, after a five-year battle with ALS.
Odom was portrayed by Paul Hipp in Clint Eastwood's 1997 movie adaptation.