Lurton Blassingame (February 10, 1904 – April 1988) was a literary agent of long career based in New York City, a Howard College- and Columbia University-trained journalist whose clients included Robert A. Heinlein and Frank Herbert.
Blassingame was born on February 10, 1904 in Fort Smith, Arkansas, and moved with his family—he had a sister, Alice—afterward, to Auburn, Alabama, with his first university degree coming from Howard College in Birmingham.[when?
[1] Blassingame's public relations operation, named Houston Branch Associates,[citation needed] was "one-man", and he sold it off in 1979[1]—to Eleanor Wood, where it became part of Spectrum Literary Agency.
][3] In 1980, literary agent Kirby McCauley dedicated his horror anthology, Dark Forces, to Blassingame "with admiration and affection".
[1] He was described by a close associate of decades, Margo Fischer, as being "full of life", with passions for fishing and hunting, as well playing bridge and attending the ballet and opera; "He was always a thoughtful person with a wonderful sense of humor," she stated to The New York Times.
[1] With his 1943 success with Rosemary Taylor's work, Blassingame bought Ilikite (his fashioning of "I like it"), a country house near Peekskill, New York.