Biography
Jimmy Hager is a professional screenwriter and actor living in Columbia, SC. He was born Jimmy Nelson Eldridge on March 5, 1947 in Gastonia, NC, to parents, James O. "Jimmy" Eldridge and Thelma L. Nelson. They'd been married ten months when Jim Eldridge, a professional boxer and decorated 82nd Airborne World War 2 hero, was shot while defending a waitress who'd been attacked in a Gastonia road house. One of Jim's last wishes was "If it's a boy name him Jimmy not James." In 1959, the family moved to Charleston, SC, where Jimmy, at age 13, started raising himself with the invaluable help of Charleston's African American Community, his close friends at St. Andrews High School, countless musicians, prostitutes, gamblers and every form of night runner known to man. While earning his keep playing tenor sax in Charleston's seediest nightclubs and bars he was voted Most Talented by the 1966 class of St. Andrews High School. Jimmy left Charleston to attend USC Columbia in 1967, then dropped out to go on the road. Playing close to 300 dates a year his bands, Soul Inc., Freedom 70 and Freeway, opened for every major music act touring the southeast during the 60s and 70s including Janis Joplin, Chicago, Poco, Santana, and The Allman Brothers Band. When his friend Duane Allman died tragically, Jimmy quit music, moved back to Charleston, got married, and raised a family. He became a professional Faux Finish artist working and teaching in Charleston's historic district, where he met and became friends with mystery writer Mickey Spillane. Spillane encouraged him to try his hand at fiction and after winning a local short story contest, Jimmy enrolled part-time at The College of Charleston studying creative writing under novelist Bret Lott and poet Paul Allan. He won First Prize for Best Short Story three years in a row before receiving his BA in English in 1987. After his divorce in 1998 he auditioned for his first play, To Kill a Mockingbird, at Charleston's famous Dock Street Theater where, 49 years to the day from his father's death, Jimmy was cast as Atticus Finch. His performance led to leading rolls in over 30 stage plays, and numerous national TV and print commercials. As a character actor Jimmy has worked with Gale Ann Hurd, Julia Ormond, Jim Caviezel, Sam Shepard, Jason Patric and many others. Screenwriter credits include Four Blood Moons and The Ultimate Legacy. As novelist J. Nelson Eldridge, he has self-published The Merch, his love letter back to the 60s and 70s Charlestonians who raised him. Along with Michael Easler, he is co-author of a young adult novel, Red Tail, which is also set deep in the South Carolina Lowcountry.
