McDowell was born in 1950 in Enterprise, Alabama, and graduated from T.R. Miller High in Brewton, Alabama. He received a B.A. and an M.A. from Harvard College, and a Ph.D in English from Brandeis University in 1978, based on a dissertation entitled "American Attitudes Toward Death, 1825–1865". McDowell lived in Medford, Massachusetts and maintained a residence in Hollywood with his sister Ann and the filmmaker Peter Lake. He also had one brother, James. McDowell's partner was theatre historian and director Laurence Senelick, whom he met in 1969 when McDowell was a cast member of the Senelick-directed play, Bartholomew Fair. McDowell and Senelick remained together for thirty years until McDowell's death. McDowell specialized in collecting death memorabilia. His extensive and diverse collection, which reportedly filled over seventy-six boxes, included items such as death pins, photographs and plaques from infant caskets. After his death, the collection was acquired by Chicago's Northwestern University, where it went on display in 2013. McDowell was diagnosed with AIDS in 1994. After his diagnosis, McDowell taught screenwriting at Boston University and Tufts University while continuing to write commissioned screenplays. One of his final projects, upon which he was working at the time of his death, was a sequel to Beetlejuice. His final, unfinished novelCandles Burning was completed by novelistTabitha King and published in 2006. McDowell died on December 27, 1999 in Boston, Massachusetts from an AIDS-related illness.
Literary career
While arguably best known for his works of Southern Gothic horror, McDowell was an accomplished stylist who wrote several series with marked differences in tone, character, and subject matter. His period novels are praised for their intricate eye for historical research and accurate details, and range from Gilded AgeNew York City to wiregrass Alabama in the depths of the Great Depression. McDowell collaborated with his close friend Dennis Schuetz in writing four mysteries starring Daniel Valentine and Clarisse Lovelace: Vermillion, Cobalt, Slate, and Canary. The four novels were published under the pseudonym Nathan Aldyne. In the early 1980s, McDowell and Dennis Schuetz released two psychological thrillers, Blood Rubies and Wicked Stepmother under the pseudonym Axel Young. Both books were over-the-top parodies of Sidney Sheldon-type suspense novels. In the mid-1980s, McDowell wrote the "Jack and Susan" mysteries for Ballantine Books, featuring characters reminiscent of the influential Thin Man films. The series included Jack and Susan in 1953, Jack and Susan in 1913 and Jack and Susan in 1933. The books chronicled the adventures of an eternally youthful couple and their ever-changing dog. McDowell had contracted to do one for each decade of the century, but he bowed out of the contract after three. His screen credits include Beetlejuice, and collaborations on The Nightmare Before Christmas and Thinner. McDowell also wrote the novelization of the film Clue in 1985. The film was based on the board game and featured three different endings; however, the novelization was based on the shooting script and includes an additional fourth ending that was cut from the film. He also contributed screenplays to a number of television horror anthologies, including Tales from the Darkside. McDowell was one of seventeen contemporary British and American horror writers interviewed by Douglas E. Winter in his 1985 interview book Faces of Fear. Of his writing, McDowell says in this book: "I am a commercial writer and I'm proud of that. I am writing things to be put in the bookstore next month. I think it is a mistake to try to write for the ages." Stephen King described McDowell as "the finest writer of paperback originals in America today".
