Charles Brandt obit

Delaware author behind Scorsese movie 'The Irishman' starring Robert De Niro dead at 82

 

He was not on the list.

Charles Brandt, a former Delaware chief deputy attorney general and the author of "I Heard You Paint Houses," a book about the Mafia later adapted into a 2019 Martin Scorsese film, died Tuesday at the age of 82.

Brandt, who split time between homes in Lewes and Sun Valley, Idaho, died from complications from several comorbid chronic conditions at Delaware Hospice at St. Francis in Wilmington, according to his daughter Jenny Rose Brandt, a registered nurse and Brandt's principal caregiver.

The epic 3½-hour, $150 million mobster film "The Irishman," which earned 10 Academy Award nominations and starred Robert De Niro and Al Pacino, was based on "I Heard You Paint Houses," published in 2005.

Brandt's work of narrative nonfiction told the life story of hulking, 6-foot-4-inch World War II veteran "Big Frank" Sheeran, the former president of Teamsters Local 326 in Wilmington in the '60s and '70s, who was also a Mafia hitman.

In the book, Brandt detailed his five years' worth of interviews with Sheeran, who claimed he shot fellow labor leader Jimmy Hoffa, who disappeared in 1975 and whose body has never been found. Sheeran told Brandt he admitted to the killing because he was emboldened by the deaths of some of his contemporary mobsters, whom he had still feared.

Sheeran told Brandt he shot Hoffa twice in the head in a house in Detroit and was told by others involved that Hoffa's body had been later cremated, a scene that plays out in Scorsese's Netflix film.

Hoffa's disappearance remains one of America's most infamous mysteries.

Brandt was born on March 13, 1942, and raised in New York City, coming to Delaware to study English at the University of Delaware.

After working as a junior high school English teacher, he returned to New York to begin his investigative career, working as an investigator for the welfare department in East Harlem while studying at Brooklyn Law School.

He then moved back to Delaware to work as a homicide investigator and prosecutor for the state Attorney General's Office. He served as deputy attorney general at the Delaware Department of Justice from May 1971 to January 1975 before he was named chief deputy attorney general by then-Attorney General Richard Wier Jr.

Brandt left the department in June 1976 before beginning work as a defense attorney, building his own law firm.

In 1988, he wrote his first book, "The Right to Remain Silent," a novel based on the cases he worked on as a homicide investigator. It was optioned by Bruce Willis’ production company and adapted by the screenwriter Steve de Souza ("Die Hard," "48 Hrs."), but was never produced as a film.

While the book never made it onto the big screen, it did find its way into the hands of Sheeran, who served four terms with the Teamsters on and off from 1966 to 1981 before heading to prison for labor racketeering.

Brandt was a medical malpractice attorney when he was retained by Sheeran in 1991, and helped him get out of prison early due to medical issues. Before his release, Sheeran read "The Right to Remain Silent" and wanted Brandt to write a book clearing him of involvement in Hoffa's killing since Sheeran had been rumored to be involved.

That book never happened, but more than eight years later, Sheeran contacted him again. That's when their string of interviews began, leading to Sheeran's eventual confession and 2005's release of "I Heard You Paint Houses: Frank 'The Irishman' Sheeran and Closing the Case on Jimmy Hoffa" ($17, Steerforth Press).

The path the book took to Scorsese began with Fox News reporter Eric Shawn, who had done a story about Brandt's book when it was released. One of Shawn's neighbors was Barbara De Fina, Scorsese's collaborator and ex-wife.

De Fina, who produced Scorsese/De Niro films such as "Goodfellas," "Cape Fear" and "Casino," got a copy of the book from Shawn, and a meeting was set up between De Fina and Brandt at Shawn's Manhattan apartment over plates of takeout Chinese food.

"She asked all the right questions that make you know that something could come of this," Brandt told Delaware Online/The News Journal in 2009.

Paramount Pictures announced "The Irishman" film in 2008 with a screenplay by Oscar-winning screenwriter Steve Zaillian ("Schindler's List," "American Gangster," "Moneyball"), who adapted Brandt's book.

Brandt found out about the finalized deal when he got an email from his publisher, which included a link to a Variety article about the film.

"I woke up, turned on my laptop and there was the email," he said at the time. "I'm just so thrilled, I can't even tell you.

"And now that my family is having grandchildren, I tell my kids, 'Uncle Marty and Uncle Bobby are going to buy us an addition for our house in Lewes,'" referring to Scorcese and DeNiro.

'I wanted to be alive for it'

But over the years, the production was stalled by scheduling conflicts with its busy A-List stars and director. It eventually landed on Netflix, finally coming out in 2019 ― nearly a decade after it was first announced.

In 2015 after De Niro mentioned "The Irishman" on "The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon," Brandt joked to Delaware Online/The News Journal about the frustrating wait for the film: "They've fitted me for a straitjacket so I can't harm anyone else. I can't say you ever get used to the waiting, but it's out of my hands."

Brandt was 77 and basking in the moment when the film finally premiered as the opening night film at the 57th New York Film Festival.

"I wanted to be alive for it. I was really hoping they would make it while I'm still here. With four grandchildren, I thought I had it all and now this comes along, finally. Living it moment to moment is just sublime," he told Delaware Online/The News Journal after the screening.

While the film earned 10 Academy Award nominations in 2020, including Best Picture, it was shut out in all categories, losing Best Picture to "Parasite."

In 2022, Brandt published what would be his final book, "Suppressing the Truth in Dallas: Conspiracy, Cover-Up, and International Complications in the JFK Assassination Case" (Post Hill Press, $28), presenting a case that the Mafia played a role in the assassination of President John Kennedy.

Brandt is survived by his wife, Nancy Brandt; his children, Tripp Wier, Mimi Royer and Jenny Rose Brandt; grandchildren Maggie Royer, Jackson Royer, Libby Wier and Alexander McCausland, among others.