William Riley "W. R." Burnett (November 25, 1899 April 25, 1982) was an American novelist and screenwriter. He is best known for the crime novel Little Caesar, the  film adaptation of which is considered the first of the classic American gangster movies. Burnett was born in Springfield, Ohio. He left his civil service job there to move to Chicago when he was 28, by which time he had written over 100 short stories and five novels, all unpublished.