(CNN) -- Norman Mailer, the outspoken author whose prize-winning works made him a towering figure on the American literary stage for more than 50 years, is dead. He was 84.

Norman Mailer, shown in February, cultivated a streetwise, brawling, larger-than-life image.

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Mailer died about 4:30 a.m. Saturday at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City, his literary executor, J. Michael Lennon, said.

Author of "The Naked and the Dead," "The Armies of the Night" and "The Executioner's Song," Mailer was probably the most famous of the generation of writers who came of age after World War II -- he was certainly the most colorful, and most pugnaciously so.

Oscar-winning heavyweights such as George Clooney and Cate Blanchett were no match for another of Tyler Perry's popular flicks.

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- The Lionsgate release "Tyler Perry's Why Did I Get Married?", a marital yarn whose ensemble cast includes Janet Jackson, Malik Yoba, Jill Scott and writer-director Perry, debuted as the No. 1 weekend movie with $21.5 million, according to studio estimates Sunday.

"The Dragon Is Gone": Robert Jordan, 1948-2007

Welcome to author and instructor, Deborah Elliott-Upton's official web site!

New Orleans Author Nearly Blows Oprah Moment

Why Denise Brown Went Back to Oprah

Early this morning, I got an email from Denise Brown (left), explaining why she'll be appearing on Oprah today after announcing last month she would not appear with Fred and Kim Goldman to discuss If I Did It, amplifying a brief statement on her blog. "[Oprah Winfrey] personally called to let me know she would not have done a show with the Goldmans had I not said yes originally," Brown wrote in her email. She says she told the talk show host that appearing on the show would be pointless since the Goldmans had already moved up the publication date of the book, demonstrating that it would be impossible to dissuade them from publishing.

Spare Us Oprah Winfrey's "Ethical Dilemmas"

No, really: Am I expected to believe that in 21 years of broadcasting, The Oprah Winfrey Show has never once bumped a guest, and that keeping Fred and Kim Goldman on after Denise Brown refused to appear on the same stage with them should be elevated to the level of a "moral, ethical dilemma," especially given that Oprah didn't seem to have any moral or ethical qualms sticking an entire audience with $7,000 tax tabs for the Pontiacs she gave them?

10 Months In, A Tepid Response to the Sony Reader