Tom Clancy, whose chillingly realistic novels reflected his knowledge of the military and the changing nature of threats to U.S. while providing Hollywood with fodder for blockbuster movies, has died. He was 66.

Updated October 2, 2013, 12:38 p.m. ET

Best-Selling Author Tom Clancy Dead at 66

STEPHEN MILLER And JEFFREY A. TRACHTENBERG

Best-selling author Tom Clancy, pictured in 1997.

Tom Clancy’s tightly wound military thrillers grew into a multimedia entertainment franchise encompassing not just novels but also films, videogames and board games.

Mr. Clancy, whose death in Baltimore at age 66 was announced Wednesday by his publisher, G.P. Putnam’s Sons, incorporated current events into his books starting from his first, “The Hunt for Red October,” a Cold War submarine thriller that was a bestseller when it was published in 1984.The book introduced Mr. Clancy’s main hero, Jack Ryan, a CIA analyst whose adventures over the course of more than a dozen novels included fighting Colombian drug lords, Arab terrorists and the Chinese Navy. Ryan eventually becomes U.S. president.

Mr. Clancy’s books drew comparisons to other masters of military and espionage suspense, including Frederick Forsyth, Robert Ludlum and John le Carré.

Like them, Mr. Clancy was a mega-selling writer, and all of his books went to No. 1 on the New York Times Best Sellers List, according to Putnam. The publisher estimated that there are in excess of 100 million copies of Mr. Clancy’s books in print world-wide.

Mr. Clancy will likely be best remembered for having created the techno-thriller with his debut novel “The Hunt for Red October,” said Sessalee Hensley, fiction buyer forBarnes & Noble Inc., BKS +0.55% the nation’s largest bookstore chain.

“Many writers took their cue from him and were inspired by him,” Ms. Hensley said. “Until then, you had standard-issue spy novels, with the exception of James Bond and his various gizmos. But Tom Clancy brought a sense of realness to military equipment and action that hadn’t been done before.”

Alec Baldwin played Jack Ryan in the 1990 film version of “The Hunt for Red October.” Harrison Ford and Ben Affleck played Jack Ryan in subsequent films based on novels by Mr. Clancy. Another Clancy-inspired film, “Jack Ryan: Shadow One” is slated for release in December. Chris Pine stars as the eponymous hero.

Mr. Clancy was working as an insurance salesman when “The Hunt for Red October” was first published by the Naval Institute Press. The book became a surprise bestseller, the largest in the publisher’s history at the time, helped in part by President Ronald Reagan, who pronounced it “unputdownable.”

Mr. Clancy signed with G.P. Putnam’s Sons for his second novel, “Red Storm Rising.” His 17th novel, “Command Authority,” is due to be released in December, according to Putnam.

“To publish a Tom Clancy book was a thrill every time,” said Ivan Held, Putnam’s president and publisher. “He was ahead of the news curve and sometimes frighteningly prescient.”

Mr. Clancy was a native of Baltimore and a part-owner of the Baltimore Orioles baseball team.

Tom Clancy, Novelist Who Conjured Threats to U.S., Dies at 66

Tom Clancy, whose chillingly realistic novels reflected his knowledge of the military and the changing nature of threats to U.S. while providing Hollywood with fodder for blockbuster movies, has died. He was 66.

He died yesterday in Baltimore, according to an e-mailed statement from Penguin Group, his publisher. No cause of death was given.

Clancy’s biggest hits featured the character Jack Ryan, a CIA analyst whose smarts and bravery stand out among the lesser lights of the government around him. He rises through the ranks all the way to the Oval Office. Later novels were built around John Clark, a veteran of U.S. Navy special operations. Clancy also wrote a series on real-life military leaders.

His novels that reached No. 1 on the New York Times bestseller list include “The Hunt for Red October,” “Patriot Games,” “Clear and Present Danger” and “The Bear and the Dragon.”

To contact the reporter responsible for this story: Laurence Arnold in Washington at larnold4@bloomberg.net