Leon Uris

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Leon Uris
Shelter Island, New York, U.S.
Resting placeQuantico National Cemetery
OccupationAuthor
GenreHistorical fiction
Notable worksExodus (1958)
Mila 18 (1961)
QB VII (1970)
Spouse
Betty Beck
​
​
(m. 1945; div. 1968)​
Marjorie Edwards
​
​
(m. 1968; died 1969)​
Jill Peabody
​
​
(m. 1970; div. 1988)​
Children5

Leon Marcus Uris (August 3, 1924 – June 21, 2003) was an American author of historical fiction who wrote many bestselling books including Exodus (published in 1958) and Trinity (published in 1976).[1]

Life and career

Uris was born in

Jew in Czarist Russia. I think failure formed his character, made him bitter."[3]

Uris in Israel in the 1950s
Leon Uris during a 1967 visit to Israel
Leon Uris during a 1967 visit to Israel

At age six, Uris reportedly wrote an operetta inspired by the death of his dog. He attended schools in

Battle Cry.[5] While recuperating from malaria in San Francisco, he met Betty Beck, a Marine
sergeant; they married in 1945.

Released from service he worked for a newspaper, and wrote in his spare time.

Warner Brothers in Hollywood helping to write the eponymous movie which was extremely popular with the public, but not the critics.[4] He went on to write The Angry Hills
, a novel set in war-time Greece.

His best-known work may be

MGM and by writing newspaper articles about the Sinai campaign,[6][7][8] which is said to have involved two years of research, and thousands of interviews.[a][10] It was a worldwide best-seller, translated into a dozen languages, and was made into a feature film in 1960, starring Paul Newman, directed by Otto Preminger, as well as into a short-lived Broadway musical, Ari, in 1971, for which Uris wrote the book and lyrics.[11]

Exodus illustrated the history of Palestine from the late 19th century through the founding of the state of

Refuseniks. Two typewritten Russian translations were circulated as samizdat – illegal, hand-copied works that were passed secretly from hand to hand – and the story was retold orally in the prison camps, with the oral version eventually being written in a notebook which was passed from one generation of prisoners to the next.[15]

Uris's 1967 novel

Irish nationalism, and the sequel, Redemption, covering the early 20th century and World War I
.

New York Times Best Seller. The Haj was set in the history of the Middle East. He also wrote the screenplays for Battle Cry and Gunfight at the O.K. Corral
.

Personal life

Uris was married three times. His first wife was Betty Beck, whom he married in 1945. They had three children before divorcing in 1968. He then married Marjorie Edwards in 1968, who committed suicide by gunshot the following year.[17][18]

His third and last wife was photographer Jill Peabody, daughter of Frances Gleason and Alfred Peabody of Boston.[19] They had two children. They married in 1970, when Jill was 22 years old and he was 45.[20][21] He and wife Jill worked together on his book Ireland: A Terrible Beauty, for which she provided illustrations and on Jerusalem: A Song of Songs.[18][22] They divorced in 1988, and soon after Uris settled in New York City.[23]

Death

Leon Uris died of

University of Texas in Austin, where the University of Texas Press published a literary biography about him.[24] The collection includes all of Uris's novels, with the exception of The Haj and Mitla Pass, as well as manuscripts for the screenplay, Gunfight at the O.K. Corral.[16] He was survived by his five children and two grandchildren.[23]

Selected titles

See also

Explanatory notes

  1. ^ Thirty years after the publication of Exodus, public relations man Edward Gottlieb claimed to have commissioned the novel to make the American public sympathetic toward Israel, however research by Martin Kramer, a Middle East scholar, found no evidence that Gottlieb's claim was true.[9]

References

  1. ^ "Author Leon Uris Dies at 78", The Elyria (Ohio) Chronicle Telegram, June 25, 2003, p. A8.
  2. ^ Congressional Record, p. 16911
  3. ^ Hillel Italie AP national (June 2003). "Leon Uris, author of 'Exodus', novel of founding of Israel, and other" (news). Deseret News. Retrieved August 11, 2010.
  4. ^ a b c "Movies". The New York Times. Retrieved February 10, 2018 – via NYTimes.com.
  5. ^ Nadel, Ira B. Leon Uris: Life of a Best Seller University of Texas Press, September 24, 2010
  6. New York Times
    – June 25, 2003
  7. ISBN 978-0-86547-995-1. [1]
  8. ISBN 978-0-86547-995-1. [2]
  9. ISBN 978-1412864992
    .
  10. ISBN 0-313-29462-3
    .
  11. ^ "Ari". Internet Broadway Database. Retrieved December 1, 2018.
  12. ^ Burston, Bradley (November 9, 2012). "The 'Exodus' Effect: The Monumentally Fictional Israel That Remade American Jewry". Haaretz. Retrieved February 10, 2018.
  13. ^ Homberger, Eric (June 25, 2003). "Obituary: Leon Uris". The Guardian. Retrieved February 10, 2018.
  14. ^ "Exodus, myth and malpractice – Martin Kramer on the Middle East". martinkramer.org. October 11, 2011. Retrieved February 10, 2018.
  15. ^ Beckerman, Gal, When They Come for Us We'll Be Gone, pp. 27-29
  16. ^ a b Willmann, Travis. "Leon Uris's Exodus". Obituary. Fall 2003 Newsletter. Harry Ransom Center, University of Texas at Austin. Archived from the original on May 1, 2009. Retrieved January 16, 2010.
  17. ^ "Milestones: Feb. 28, 1969". Time magazine. February 28, 1969. Archived from the original on December 14, 2008. Retrieved January 3, 2011. Marjorie Uris, 26, former New York fashion model who married Author Leon Uris (Exodus, Topaz) six months ago; apparently by her own hand (.38-cal. revolver); in Aspen, Colo.
  18. ^ a b Blagden, Nellie (January 12, 1976). "To Jill and Leon Uris, 'Our Marriage Is Like the Melding of Two Generations'". People. Retrieved December 1, 2018.
  19. ^ "Jill Peabody Married Here To Leon Uris". The New York Times. February 16, 1970. p. 41. Retrieved December 1, 2018.
  20. ^ Bernstein, Adam (June 25, 2003). "Writer Leon Uris Dies". The Washington Post. Retrieved December 1, 2018.
  21. ^ "Leon Uris (1924–2003)". Jewish Virtual Library. Retrieved December 1, 2018.
  22. ^ Gascoigne, Bamber; Liukkonen, Petri. "Leon (Marcus) Uris )1924–2003)". Authors Calendar: Books and Writers. Retrieved December 1, 2018.
  23. ^ a b Harrell, Eben (June 24, 2003). "Author Leon Uris dies". Aspen Times. Retrieved December 1, 2018.
  24. ISBN 978-0-292-70935-5. Archived from the original
    on June 12, 2020. Retrieved June 12, 2020.

Further reading

  • Ira Nadel. Leon Uris: Life of a Best Seller (University of Texas Press; 2010) 376 pages; scholarly biography

External links
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Leon_Uris&oldid=1220339257"