Sara Davidson (born 1943)^[1] is an American journalist, novelist, and screenwriter.^[2] She is the author of the best-selling Loose Change.^[3] It was adapted as a television mini-series. In addition, she has written other series and served as producer.

Early life and education

Davidson grew up in California and graduated from Los Angeles High School in 1960.^[4] She graduated from the University of California, Berkeley.^[2] She also attended Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism and started her writing career as a journalist.

Journalist

Davidson's first job was as a reporter with the Boston Globe.^[2] She has also written for magazines including The Atlantic Monthly,^[5] Esquire,^[5] Harper's Magazine,^[1][5][6] Life,^[5] McCall's,^[5] Ms.,^[5] The New York Times Magazine,^[5] Newsweek,^[6][7] O, The Oprah Magazine,^[6][8] Ramparts^[5] and Rolling Stone.^[5]

Personal

In 1968, she was briefly married to Jonathan Schwartz, a popular-music radio deejay in New York City. She later married again, to a Los Angeles businessman. They had a son and a daughter together, but were divorced.^[9]

In the 1990s she had an affair with "real-life cowboy" Richard Goff. Their relationship inspired her largely autobiographical novel Cowboy(1999).^[10]

Books

• 1977 Loose Change: three women of the sixties,^[11][12] This was adapted as a television mini-series airing in 1978.^[13]
• 1980 Real Property^[11][14]
• 1984 Friends of the Opposite Sex, ISBN 0-385-13381-2^[11][15]
• 1986 Rock Hudson: his Story, written with Rock Hudson, ISBN 0-688-06472-8^[11][16]
• 1999 Cowboy, ISBN 0-06-019326-3^[11][17]
• 2007 Leap!: What Will We Do with the Rest of Our Lives?, ISBN 978-0-345-47808-5^[18][19][20]
• 2012 Joan: Forty Years of Life, Loss, and Friendship with Joan Didion, ISBN 978-1-61452-016-0
• 2014 The December Project: An Extraordinary Rabbi and a Skeptical Seeker Confront Life's Greatest Mystery.
• 2023 The Didion Files: Fifty Years of Friendship with Joan Didion

Television

Davidson's novel Loose Change (1977) was adapted for a mini-series. In addition, she wrote and produced a number of television series. She created the series Jack and Mike (1986),^[21] and HeartBeat (1988).^[22] She was the co-executive producer for Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman.^[23]