Editing Mister Roberts (novel) (section)

==Background==
Heggen based his novel on his experiences aboard the cargo ships {{USS|Virgo|AKA-20}} and {{USS |Rotanin| AK-108}}, in the [[South West Pacific theatre of World War II]].<ref name="Wacky" /> He had written a number of short stories, which he collected and merged into the novel.<ref name="Wacky">{{Citation | url = http://www.uss-virgo.com/wacky.htm | publisher = USS Virgo | title = The Wacky Ship of Mr. Roberts | journal = Sea Classics | date = January 1979 | url-status = dead | archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20080821103057/http://www.uss-virgo.com/wacky.htm | archivedate = 2008-08-21 }}.</ref> It was subsequently adapted as a [[Mister Roberts (play)|1948 play]],<ref name="play">{{Citation | url = http://www.seabirdadventure.com/mister-roberts/mister-roberts-broadway-play | title = Mister Roberts | contribution = Broadway play, circa 1948 | publisher = Sea bird adventure}}.</ref> a [[Mister Roberts (1955 film)|1955 feature film]],<ref name="feature film">{{Citation | url = http://www.seabirdadventure.com/mister-roberts/mister-roberts-the-1955-movie | title = Mister Robert | contribution = Feature film 1955 | publisher = Sea bird adventure}}.</ref> a [[Mister Roberts (TV series)|1965–66 television series]], and a live [[Mister Roberts (1984 film)|1984 television movie]].<ref name = "television movie">{{Citation | url = http://www.seabirdadventure.com/mister-roberts/1984-remake-mister-roberts-movie | publisher = Sea bird adventure | title = Mister Roberts | contribution = 1984 remake, television movie}}.</ref>

Heggen only enjoyed the initial success and profits of his creation, as his life ended in May 1949, just after turning 30. Heggen was found dead in his bathtub. ''The New York Times'' reported that according to the coroner, he had drowned. Many of those close to him believed that it was an accident. According to the Los Angeles Times obituary of Dr. Robert Litman, a pioneer in suicide prevention, Litman's  “interest in the subject was sparked by the death of his high school best friend, Thomas Heggen”.<ref>{{Cite news|title=T.O. Heggen, Author, Found Dead in Bath; Writer Whose 'Mister Roberts' Became Stage Hit Had Been Taking Sleeping Pills Found Dead in Home T.O. Heggen Dead; A Noted Novelist| work=The New York Times |url=http://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1949/05/20/84565740.html?pageNumber=18|access-date=2020-07-25|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|title=Heggen Autopsy Held; Chemical Tests Ordered by Dr. Gonzales in Writer's Death| work=The New York Times |url=http://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1949/05/21/85640755.html?pageNumber=15|access-date=2020-07-25|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|last=  |first=  |date=2014-03-07|title=Robert E. Litman dies at 88; co-founder of suicide prevention center|url=https://www.latimes.com/nation/la-me-robert-litman7-2010mar07-story.html|access-date=2020-07-25|website=Los Angeles Times|language=en-US}}</ref> In 1974, [[John Leggett]]'s book, ''Ross and Tom: Two American Tragedies,'' explored the lives of “ two young novelists, just my age and no more promising in background, (who) had been published so successfully that their first books made them rich and famous. Then, at the peak of their acclaim, they died. The first, Ross Lockridge, took his own life... The second, Thomas Heggen, drowned in his bathwater—an accident, it was claimed, but it was the accident of a desperate man.”<ref>{{Cite news|title=Book Excerpt: 'Ross and Tom: Two American Tragedies'|url=https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5300244|access-date=2020-07-25|newspaper=NPR|date = 31 March 2006|language=en|last1 = Leggett|first1 = John}}</ref>

The character Mister Roberts was based on the ''Rotanin''{{'}}s [[Executive officer#United States Navy and United States Coast Guard|executive officer]], Donald House.{{citation needed|date=July 2024}} Unlike the character in the book, he was not killed in action, but continued as a career Naval officer until retirement, and lived until early 1998.

The ship's Captain portrayed in Mister Roberts, played by [[James Cagney]], and the ensuing palm tree shenanigans, was based on the real-life captain of the {{USS|Virgo|AKA-20}}, Lt. Commander Herbert Ezra Randall Sr., USNR. Captain Randall continued as a career Naval officer until retirement and lived in southern California until November 21, 1991. In 1997, the USS Virgo Association held their annual meeting in Riverside, California and conducted a graveside ceremony, plot: 28, 2693; Riverside National Cemetery, Riverside County, California, including a 21-gun salute in honor of their captain—complete with a potted palm tree placed on the grave.<ref>USS Virgo Association – first-person member interviews and Wayback Machine website USS-Virgo.com</ref>

In December 2011, honoring the 65th anniversary of the book's publication, James C. Roberts, cousin of the friend for whom Heggen named his leading man, wrote a long article for the ''[[Navy Times]]'' about the background, history and significance of the novel.  Roberts wrote that "Like his fictional 'Old Stupid' counterpart, Captain Randall did own two palm trees, and like the characters Doug Roberts and [[Ensign Pulver]], Heggen threw them over the side."<ref>{{Cite web|date=2011-12-01|title=Happy 65th Birthday, Mister Roberts|url=https://www.usni.org/magazines/naval-history-magazine/2011/december/happy-65th-birthday-mister-roberts|access-date=2020-07-25|website=U.S. Naval Institute|language=en}}</ref>