Hey Bill, how are you? No, not Max.

At age 27, I was accepted at an artist's retreat, where I worked on my first novel.

Although only modestly successful upon publication, an Alfred Hitchcock film adaptation of the novel enhanced my reputation.

Stewart James?

Doing well, all things considered.

Got a root canal, got a crown replaced, my sister-in-law passed away, and my wife and I (with the dogs) had a nice, albeit short, anniversary/birthday trip to Yosemite: lots of snow (which the dogs, a collie and a corgi, loved).

Sorry about losing your relative, Bill. But glad you enjoyed your anniversary/birthday romp in the snow with wife & dogs.

Alan M: It’s not Stewart James. Here’s another clue:

A lifelong diarist, I left behind eight thousand pages of handwritten notebooks and diaries.

Robert Bloch?

Good guess, Karnak, but no cigar.

My writing derived influence from existentialist literature, and questioned notions of identity and popular morality. I was dubbed "the poet of apprehension" by novelist Graham Greene.

I think I heard the snail story once before about Patricia Highsmith?

You got it, Landmark! Patricia Highsmith, born Mary Patricia Plangman in 1921. Author of psychological thrillers such as Strangers On A Train, The Blunderer, The Two Faces Of January, The Price Of Salt (later republished as Carol), and her series of five novels featuring Mr. Tom Ripley.

These were my remaining clues:

One of my most popular works was a psychological thriller featuring a likable criminal. I later wrote four sequels featuring the same protagonist.

One of my U.S. publishers said that although I was a mean, cruel, hard, unlovable, unloving human being ... my books were brilliant.

I wrote 22 novels and numerous short stories throughout my career spanning nearly five decades, and my work has led to more than two dozen film adaptations.

I died at age 74 from a combination of aplastic anemia and lung cancer at Carita hospital in Locarno, Switzerland.

I left my estate, worth an estimated $3 million, to the Yaddo colony where I had written the draft of my first novel. My literary estate was bequeathed to the Swiss Literary Archives at the Swiss National Library in Bern, Switzerland.

1. Dad died when I was 10; he met my mom when his US Navy boat broke down in my mom's homeland.

2. From 2008-13 I appeared in stage productions of A Streetcar Named Desire, Uncle Vanya and The Maids.

3. My first high-profile international role was as young royalty.

4. I was the first actor in history to win an Academy Award for portraying another Academy Award-winning actor.

5. At the start of the millenium I got acclaim for doing things in threes.

6. And in the next decade I did things in threes once more!

No idea, so far ...

7. I'm an Aussie.

8. I'm starring in a re-make of a classic film that mentalists in particular would be interested in.

Going out on a limb, I'll guess Mel Gibson ... but he's probably too obvious a choice.

9. I starred in a Woody Allen film, and I'm in the remake of Nightmare Alley.

10. I was in the Lord of the Rings trilogy and The Hobbit trilogy

Last clue:

Some awrds and nominations:

71st Academy Awards (1998): Best Actress, nomination, Elizabeth
77th Academy Awards (2004): Best Supporting Actress, win, The Aviator
79th Academy Awards (2006): Best Supporting Actress, nomination, Notes on a Scandal
80th Academy Awards (2007): Best Actress, nomination, Elizabeth: The Golden Age
80th Academy Awards (2007): Best Supporting Actress, nomination, I'm Not There
86th Academy Awards (2013): Best Actress, win, Blue Jasmine
88th Academy Awards (2015): Best Actress, nomination, Carol--the adaptation of Patricia Highsmith's The Price of Salt!

Now you've given it away: Cate Blanchett.

There you go. She won the Academy Award for playing another Academy Award winner, Kate Hepburn, and is in the new re-make of Nightmare Alley.

She was brilliant in Elizabeth.

I was born in New York City in 1923. My Jewish family was upper middle class, but I downplayed my roots.

I first became interested in art and design as a hobby, through school. I was also an avid jazz fan, often attending concerts at the Apollo Theater in Harlem.

I frequently drew portraits of the musicians playing their instruments. In my last year of high school, I enrolled in summer art classes.

Later I attended Ohio State University, which offered studio courses and a degree in fine arts. But my studies were interrupted by a three-year stint in the Army during and after World War II between 1943 and 1946.