Jack Finney
Jack Finney | |
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Born | John Finney October 2, 1911 thrillers, comedy |
Subject | 19th century American history |
Notable works | The Body Snatchers, Time and Again |
Walter Braden "Jack" Finney (born John Finney; October 2, 1911 – November 14, 1995) was an American writer. His best-known works are science fiction and thrillers, including The Body Snatchers and Time and Again. The former was the basis for the 1956 film Invasion of the Body Snatchers and its remakes.
Personal life
Finney was born in
Writing career
Finney's first article, "Someone Who Knows Told Me …", published in the December 1943 issue of
His story "The Widow's Walk" won a contest sponsored by Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine in 1946.[1] His first novel, 5 Against the House, was published in 1954. It was made into a movie the following year.
Finney's novel
Another novel, Assault on a Queen (1959), became the film Assault on a Queen with Frank Sinatra as the leader of a gang that pulls a daring robbery of the RMS Queen Mary.
Finney's greatest success came with his science fiction novel
In 1987, Finney was given the World Fantasy Award for Life Achievement at the World Fantasy Convention, held in Nashville, Tennessee.[2]
Finney's story "Such Interesting Neighbors" (Collier's, 6 January 1951) was the basis for the second episode of Science Fiction Theatre, entitled "Time Is Just a Place". It was first broadcast on 16 April 1955. It co-starred Don DeFore and Warren Stevens; it was then published in 1957, in the collection The Third Level by Rhinehart and Company; later, the story appeared as an episode of the Steven Spielberg-created anthology series Amazing Stories, starring Adam Ant and Marcia Strassman. Spielberg's version was first broadcast on 20 March 1987.
In 1995, twenty-five years after Time and Again, Finney published a sequel called From Time to Time featuring the further adventures of Morley, this time centering on Manhattan in 1912. Finney died at the age of 84 not long after finishing the book.
The
The Third Level, Knox College's science fiction and fantasy publication, is named for Finney's short story "The Third Level", published in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction in October 1952.[3]
Works
Short stories
- "Someone Who Knows Told Me …", Cosmopolitan (Non-Fiction) (December 1943)
- "The Widow's Walk", Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine (July 1947)
- "Manhattan Idyl", Collier's (April 1947)
- "I'm Mad at You", Collier's (December 1947)
- "Breakfast in Bed", Collier's (May 1948)
- "It Wouldn't Be Fair", Collier's (August 1948) - Also published in Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine
- "You Haven't Changed a Bit", Colliers (April 1949)
- "The Little Courtesies", Collier's (June 1949)
- "A Dash of Spring", Cosmopolitan (June 1949)
- "Week-end Genius", Colliers (May 1950)
- "I Like It This Way", Collier's (June 1950)
- "My Cigarette Loves Your Cigarette", Collier's (September 1950)
- "Such Interesting Neighbors", Collier's (January 1951)
- "One Man Show", Collier's (June 1951)
- "I'm Scared", Collier's (September 1951)
- "It Wouldn't be Fair", Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine (November 1951)
- "Obituary" (co-written with C.J. Durban), Collier's (February 1952)
- "The Third Level", The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction (October 1952)
- "Quit Zoomin' Those Hands Through the Air", The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction (December 1952)
- "Of Missing Persons" (1955)
- "Man of Confidence", Good Housekeeping (September 1955)
- "Second Chance", Good Housekeeping (April 1956)
- "Contents of the Dead Man's Pocket", Good Housekeeping (June 1956)
- "The Love Letter", Saturday Evening Post (August 1, 1959) [Also re-published in January/February 1988 issue of Saturday Evening Post]
- "The U-19’s Last Kill", Saturday Evening Post (six-part series, beginning August 22, 1959, and ending September 26, 1959)
- "The Other Wife" (also known as "The Coin Collector"), Saturday Evening Post (January 30, 1960)
- "An Old Tune" (also known as "Home Alone"), McCall's (October 1961)
- "Old Enough for Love", McCall's (May 1962)
- "The Sunny Side of the Street", McCall's (October 1962)
- "Time Has No Boundaries" (also known as "The Face in the Photo"), Saturday Evening Post (October 13, 1962)
- "Hey, Look at Me!" (1962)
- "Lunch Hour Magic" (1962)
- "Where the Cluetts Are" (1962)
Novels
Several Finney novels were adapted as feature films (†); see below.
- 5 Against the House (1954) †
- The Body Snatchers (1955) †
- The House of Numbers (1957) †
- Assault on a Queen (1959) †
- Good Neighbor Sam (1963)
- The Woodrow Wilson Dime (1968)
- Time and Again (1970)
- Marion's Wall (1973)
- The Night People (1977)
- From Time to Time (1995) – sequel to Time and Again
Collections
- The Third Level (1957), short story collection, in England as The Clock of Time (1958)
- I Love Galesburg in the Springtime (1963), short story collection
- Forgotten News: The Crime of the Century and Other Lost Stories (1983), nonfiction
- About Time (1986), short story collection, a subset of only the time stories from The Third Level and I Love Galesburg in the Springtime
- Three by Finney (1987), an omnibus edition of The Woodrow Wilson Dime, Marion's Wall, and The Night People
Plays
- Telephone Roulette: A Comedy in One Act (1956)
- This Winter's Hobby: A Play (1966)
Film adaptations
- 5 Against the House (1955 Phil Karlson film starring Guy Madison, Kim Novak, and Brian Keith)
- Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956 Don Siegel film starring Kevin McCarthy, Dana Wynter and Larry Gates)
- House of Numbers (1957 Russell Rouse film noir starring Jack Palance)
- Good Neighbor Sam (1964 David Swift film starring Jack Lemmon, Romy Schneider, and Dorothy Provine)
- Assault on a Queen (1966 Jack Donohue film based on The U-19's Last Kill starring Frank Sinatra, Virna Lisi, and Anthony Franciosa)
- Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978 remake by Philip Kaufman starring Donald Sutherland, Brooke Adams, Jeff Goldblum, and Leonard Nimoy)
- Maxie (1985 Paul Aaron film starring Glenn Close, Mandy Patinkin, and Ruth Gordon; based on Marion's Wall)
- Body Snatchers (1993 remake of Invasion of the Body Snatchers)
- The Love Letter (1998 Dan Curtis TV movie starring Campbell Scott, Jennifer Jason Leigh, David Dukes, and Estelle Parsons; based on the story of the same name)
- The Invasion (2007 remake of Invasion of the Body Snatchers starring Nicole Kidman and Daniel Craig)
- Crayon Shin-chan: The Legend Called: Dance! Amigo! (2006 Shin-Ei Animation film starring Akiko Yajima, Miki Narahashi, Keiji Fujiwara, Akeno Watanabe; based on Yoshito Usui's original manga that was inspired by The Body Snatchers)
References
- ^ "Jack Finney biography". Retrieved June 11, 2007.
- ^ "1987 World Fantasy Award Winners and Nominees". Archived from the original on May 19, 2007. Retrieved June 11, 2007.
- ^ "FANTASY & SCIENCE FICTION: ANTHOLOGIES (by content)". sfsite.com. SF Site. Retrieved July 21, 2015.
External links
- Jack Finney at IMDb
- Biography at The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction
- Jack Finney at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database
- Jack Finney at Library of Congress, with 34 library catalog records
- Grimes, William (November 17, 1995). "Jack Finney, 84, Sci-Fi Author Of Time-Travel Tales, Dies". The New York Times. Retrieved October 18, 2011. Obituary.
- [Obituaries from Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, San Francisco Examiner, Dayton Daily News, and The New York Times]
- Camilletti, Fabio (2010). "Present Perfect. Time and the Uncanny in American Science and Horror Fiction of the 1970s (Finney, Matheson, King)". Image & Narrative. 11 (3): 25–41. ISSN 1780-678X. Archived from the originalon March 4, 2016. Retrieved September 1, 2011. Academic journal article on time-slip in science fiction, with special reference to Time and Again and The Love Letter.
- Corrigan, Maureen (October 17, 2011). "The Sad Lesson Of 'Body Snatchers': People Change". Fresh Air. Retrieved October 18, 2011. An appreciation of Jack Finney on the 100th anniversary of his birth.
- "Jack Finney". homepage.mac.com/CSSfan. Archived from the original on January 4, 2012. Retrieved March 8, 2012. Annotated bibliography with other materials.
- The Dell Paperback Collection at the Library of Congress has first edition paperbacks of Finney's works.