| John B. L. Goodwin | |
| Birth Name: | John Blair Linn Goodwin |
| Birth Date: | 25 February 1912 |
| Birth Place: | Manhattan, New York, US |
| Occupation: | Author, poet |
John Blair Linn Goodwin (1912–1994) was an American author and poet, best known for his story "The Cocoon" (1946), collected in Houghton Mifflin's The Best American Short Stories in 1947. A further short story was "Stone Still, Stone Cold" (1949).
Goodwin was a native of Manhattan and a world traveler.[1] His other works include a children's book titled Freddy Fribbs (Flea);[2] the 1940 children's book The Pleasant Pirate;[3] the 1952 novel The Idols and the Prey, about Haiti;[4] and the 1963 novella A View from Fuji.
He was known to have had intimate long-term relationships with at least two men and was mentioned multiple times in Christopher Isherwood's diaries.[5] His first known homosexual relationship was with the actor David Rollins (1907-1997), who he was living with as early April 1937, when they listed the same address in New York City when they traveled together to Acapulco, Mexico.[6] Three years later, Rollins is listed as Goodwin's partner in the 1940 census, while they were residing together in Orangetown, NY. At that time, Rollins occupation was cited as a dog fancier at a kennel, and Goodwin was listed as unemployed.[7] In October 1940 they both listed the same Manhattan address in their registration for the draft during World War II.[8] By 1942, they were living together in California, with 1942 and 1944 voter registration records indicating they lived at the same address, with Rollins working as a farmer and Goodwin as a writer.[9] It is unknown when that relationship ended, but Goodwin's 1994 obituary listed Anthony P. Russo as his long-time friend and companion, with no reference to Rollins.[10]
He died on 12 January 1994 at Columbia-Presbyterian Hospital.[1]