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A graduate of El Camino College and U.S.C., Lewis John Carlino first gained attention as a novelist and off-Broadway playwright. Carlino burst onto the Hollywood scene with his screenplay for Seconds (1966), a "thinking man's" sci-fier based on a novel by David Ely. Carlino's follow-up scripting assignments were equally impressive: The Brotherhood (1968) was arguably the best of the pre-Godfather Mafia films, while The Mechanic (1973) demonstrated what was lost when Charles Bronson abandoned genuine acting in favor of the Death Wish series. With the dreamlike The Sailor Who Fell From Grace With the Sea (1976), Carlino launched his directorial career, which thus far has yielded only the 1979 critic's favorite The Great Santini (1979) and the frivolous sex comedy Class (1983). In 1977, Lewis John Carlino received an Academy Award nomination for his film adaptation of Hannah Green's novel I Never Promised You a Rose Garden.