- Born
- Died
- Birth nameJohn Henry O'Hara
- Prolific American author of the mid-twentieth century. Born in Pottsville, Pennsylvania, he later used the town, under the fictitious name of Gibbsville, as the setting for many of his novels and short stories. Among his books adapted for films are "From the Terrace," "A Rage to Live," "Ten North Frederick," "Pal Joey," and "Butterfield 8." Other well-known titles of his are "Ourselves to Know," "The Big Laugh," "A Family Party," and especially "Appointment in Samarra." Critic Woolcott Gibbs ranked the last-named with Fitzgerald's "The Great Gatsby" and Sinclair Lewis's "Babbitt" as the three best novels about America in the 1920s. O'Hara died in Princeton in 1970 and his novels fell into neglect shortly thereafter. Many fans and critics feel a revival of interest is long overdue.- IMDb Mini Biography By: Anonymous
- SpousesKatherine Barnes Bryan(January 31, 1955 - April 11, 1970) (his death)Belle Mulford Wylie(December 3, 1937 - January 10, 1954) (her death, 1 child)Helen Ritchie Petit(February 28, 1931 - August 16, 1933) (divorced)
- John Updike grouped him with Anton Chekhov in a C-Span interview. Fran Leibowitz called him "the real Scott Fitzgerald.".
- Won a National Book Award in 1956 for his novel "Ten North Frederick."
- Was at one time the film critic for "Newsweek" magazine.
- Is buried in Princeton Cemetery, Princeton, New Jersey. The epitaph on his gravestone reads, "Better than anyone else, he told the truth about his time, the first half of the twentieth century. He was a professional.".
- He congratulated his friend John Steinbeck when Steinbeck was named the Nobel laureate for literature in 1962, but O'Hara resentfully believed that he should have won the award. He subsequently complained that Steinbeck had won "his" Nobel Prize.
- On the death of his close friend, George Gershwin: "George Gershwin died yesterday, but I don't have to believe it if I don't want to."
- If Yale had given me a degree, I could have joined the Yale Club, where the food is pretty good, the library is ample and restful, the location convenient, and I could go there when I felt like it without sponging off friends. They also have a nice-looking necktie.
- [on 'Panama Hattie'] Who'd have thought we'd live to see the day when Cole Porter - Cole Porter! - would write a score in which the two outstanding songs are called 'My Mother Would Love You' and Let's Be Buddies'? And written straight, too; no kidding.
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