MillRatUSMC
06-24-03, 11:30 PM
Leon Uris Dies in New York
Tue Jun 24, 4:10 PM ET
By Grant McCool
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Top-selling American novelist Leon Uris, best known for "Exodus" about the creation of Israel and "Trinity" on the conflict in Ireland, has died in New York of congestive heart failure. He was 78.
His ex-wife, Jill Uris, said by telephone from Aspen, Colorado, that the novelist had died on Saturday at his home on New York's Shelter Island -- the small island off Long Island where he lived since 1989.
HarperCollins, set to publish Uris' last book in October, said in a statement he died of congestive heart failure. Jill Uris said the new book, "O'Hara's Choice," was a historical fiction about the U.S. Marine Corps.
"He completed it in the spring," she said.
Uris' novels reflected his experiences as a Marine in World War II and as a war correspondent. His first novel, "Battle Cry," was published in 1953 when he was 29 years old and it was turned into a film.
Apart from "Exodus" in 1958 and "Trinity" in 1976, Uris was also known for his screenplay, "Gunfight at the O.K. Corral," a 1957 movie directed by John Sturges (news) with Hollywood stars Burt Lancaster (news) and Kirk Douglas (news).
In 1956, six years after becoming a full-time writer, Uris reported on the Middle East conflict. His novels have sold more than 150 million copies in 29 countries and many topped bestseller lists, HarperCollins said.
FOUGHT IN WORLD WAR TWO
Born in Baltimore in 1924, Uris attended schools in Maryland and Virginia, but never graduated from high school. At 17, he joined the Marines and served in the South Pacific. After World War II, he married the first of his three wives and worked briefly as a driver for a newspaper.
His 1988 work "Mitla Pass" was a largely autobiographical account of the Sinai campaign of 1956.
The book's editor Herman Gollob, a former editor-in-chief at publisher Doubleday, described Uris as a "committed Jew" and a larger-than-life character.
"He was a handful. He was one of those great sort of Hemingway-esque he-men authors," Gollob said. "He was a story-teller, he had a great ego but he was a warm, great friend and he could be a ferocious enemy as well, that's the way he saw life."
"The books he wrote were great epics, sagas of people caught up in history. He was a man of incredible appetites, hard-drinking, hard-living, a man of passion and commitments," Gollob said.
The 600-page "Exodus" was published in 1958, translated into 50 languages and became an international best-seller. It told the story of the establishment of the Jewish state of Israel through the experiences of several characters.
Uris followed it up with "Exodus Revisited" in 1960.
By the time "Trinity" was published in 1976, he had established his reputation for long, dramatic stories. The main characters in his book about Ireland were a Roman Catholic rebel and a Protestant girl trying to find their way in a country with deep religious and economic divisions.
Uris married three times. He leaves five children from two of the marriages.
May Leon Uris USMC Rest In Peace
Semper Fidelis
Ricardo
PS Loved his "Battle Cry" especially a scene where a Marine is giving someone the "finger".
*
Tue Jun 24, 4:10 PM ET
By Grant McCool
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Top-selling American novelist Leon Uris, best known for "Exodus" about the creation of Israel and "Trinity" on the conflict in Ireland, has died in New York of congestive heart failure. He was 78.
His ex-wife, Jill Uris, said by telephone from Aspen, Colorado, that the novelist had died on Saturday at his home on New York's Shelter Island -- the small island off Long Island where he lived since 1989.
HarperCollins, set to publish Uris' last book in October, said in a statement he died of congestive heart failure. Jill Uris said the new book, "O'Hara's Choice," was a historical fiction about the U.S. Marine Corps.
"He completed it in the spring," she said.
Uris' novels reflected his experiences as a Marine in World War II and as a war correspondent. His first novel, "Battle Cry," was published in 1953 when he was 29 years old and it was turned into a film.
Apart from "Exodus" in 1958 and "Trinity" in 1976, Uris was also known for his screenplay, "Gunfight at the O.K. Corral," a 1957 movie directed by John Sturges (news) with Hollywood stars Burt Lancaster (news) and Kirk Douglas (news).
In 1956, six years after becoming a full-time writer, Uris reported on the Middle East conflict. His novels have sold more than 150 million copies in 29 countries and many topped bestseller lists, HarperCollins said.
FOUGHT IN WORLD WAR TWO
Born in Baltimore in 1924, Uris attended schools in Maryland and Virginia, but never graduated from high school. At 17, he joined the Marines and served in the South Pacific. After World War II, he married the first of his three wives and worked briefly as a driver for a newspaper.
His 1988 work "Mitla Pass" was a largely autobiographical account of the Sinai campaign of 1956.
The book's editor Herman Gollob, a former editor-in-chief at publisher Doubleday, described Uris as a "committed Jew" and a larger-than-life character.
"He was a handful. He was one of those great sort of Hemingway-esque he-men authors," Gollob said. "He was a story-teller, he had a great ego but he was a warm, great friend and he could be a ferocious enemy as well, that's the way he saw life."
"The books he wrote were great epics, sagas of people caught up in history. He was a man of incredible appetites, hard-drinking, hard-living, a man of passion and commitments," Gollob said.
The 600-page "Exodus" was published in 1958, translated into 50 languages and became an international best-seller. It told the story of the establishment of the Jewish state of Israel through the experiences of several characters.
Uris followed it up with "Exodus Revisited" in 1960.
By the time "Trinity" was published in 1976, he had established his reputation for long, dramatic stories. The main characters in his book about Ireland were a Roman Catholic rebel and a Protestant girl trying to find their way in a country with deep religious and economic divisions.
Uris married three times. He leaves five children from two of the marriages.
May Leon Uris USMC Rest In Peace
Semper Fidelis
Ricardo
PS Loved his "Battle Cry" especially a scene where a Marine is giving someone the "finger".
*