Occupation Novelist, Poet Role Novelist | Name Robert Nathan Nationality American | |
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Born January 2, 1894New York City, U.S. ( 1894-01-02 ) Notable works The Bishop's WifePortrait of Jennie Died May 25, 1985, Los Angeles, California, United States Movies Portrait of Jennie, The Bishop's Wife, The Preacher's Wife Books Portrait of Jennie, Career Counselling, The married look, A star in the wind, Youth grows old Similar People Leonardo Bercovici, Anna Lee, William Dieterle, Robert E Sherwood, Henry Koster | ||
Robert Nathan Quotes
Robert Gruntal Nathan (January 2, 1894 – May 25, 1985) was an American novelist and poet.
Contents
- Robert Nathan Quotes
- Biography
- Novel collections
- Plays
- Childrens books
- Screenplays
- Nonfiction
- Radio programs
- Television programs
- Miscellaneous
- References
Biography
Nathan was born into a prominent New York Sephardic family. He was educated in the United States and Switzerland and attended Harvard University for several years beginning in 1912. It was there that he began writing short fiction and poetry. However, he never graduated, choosing instead to drop out and take a job at an advertising firm to support his family (he married while a junior at Harvard). It was while working in 1919 that he wrote his first novel—the semi-autobiographical work Peter Kindred—which was a critical failure. But his luck soon changed during the 1920s, when he wrote seven more novels, including The Bishop's Wife, which was later made into a successful film starring Cary Grant, David Niven, and Loretta Young.
During the 1930s, his success continued with more works, including fictional pieces and poetry. In 1940, he wrote his most successful book, Portrait of Jennie, about a Depression-era artist and the woman he is painting, who is slipping through time. Portrait of Jennie is considered a modern masterpiece of fantasy fiction and was made into a film, starring Jennifer Jones and Joseph Cotten.
In January 1956 the author wrote, as well as narrated, an episode of the CBS Radio Workshop, called "A Pride of Carrots, or Venus Well-Served".
Nathan's seventh wife was the British actress Anna Lee, to whom he was married from 1970 until his death. He came from a talented family—the activist Maud Nathan and author Annie Nathan Meyer were his aunts, and the poet Emma Lazarus and Supreme Court Justice Benjamin Cardozo his cousins.