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Donald McLeod Bio

Donald McLeod’s writing career began at the age of five, when he created what he calls his Bessie Stories.  These were almost nightly reverse bedtime stories he told to his parents for a period of five years.  The stories were his imagined reflections of the goings on in his small town of Greenwood, California where he grew up, and featured his fictional “bear” friends, Bessie, Bruce, Boo, Benny and Caterpillar.

As a slightly more mature writer, McLeod has written both fiction and non-fiction, screenplays, haiku and longer poetry, much of which is found in this collection.  For five years he was co-editor of the literary journal Vol. No. Magazine.  His poetry has been published in many literary magazines in North America, Europe and Japan.

McLeod has been a professional mime/movement artist for the past 46 years.  He is perhaps best known for his work as the American Tourister Gorilla in the company’s 15 year luggage campaign, and for his acting work in feature films, which include the gorilla in Trading Places & The Man With Two Brains, along with his portrayal of TC the werewolf, in the classic horror film The Howling.  He lives in Los Angeles with his cat Benny, and a revolving collection of raccoons, possums, squirrels and wild birds.