- Born
- Died
- Birth nameRay Douglas Bradbury
- Height5′ 8″ (1.73 m)
- Ray Bradbury was an American science fiction writer whose works were translated in more than 40 languages and sold millions of copies around the world. Although he created a world of new technical and intellectual ideas, he never obtained a driver's license and had never driven an automobile.
He was born Ray Douglas Bradbury on August 22, 1920, in Waukegan, Illinois. He was the third son in the family. His father, Leonard Spaulding Bradbury, was a telephone lineman and technician. His mother, Esther Marie Bradbury (nee Moberg), was a Swedish immigrant. His grandfather and great-grandfather were newspaper publishers. In 1934, his family settled in Los Angeles, California. There, young Bradbury often roller-skated through Hollywood, trying to spot celebrities. He attended Los Angeles High School, where he was involved in the drama club and planned to become an actor. He graduated from high school in 1938 and had no more formal education. Instead, he learned from reading works of such writers as Lev Tolstoy and Fyodor Dostoevsky, among others.
From 1938-1942, he was selling newspapers on the streets of Los Angeles, spending days in the local library and nights at the typewriter. At that time, he published his stories in fanzines. In 1941, he became a paid writer when the pulp magazine Science Stories published his short story, titled "Pendulum", and he was a full-time writer by the end of 1942. His first book - "Dark Carnival" - was a collection of stories published in 1947. That same year, he married Marguerite McClure (1922-2003), whom he met at a bookstore a year earlier. Maggie, as she was affectionately called, was the only woman Bradbury ever dated. They had four daughters and, eventually, eight grandchildren.
Ray Bradbury shot to international fame after publication of "The Martian Chronicles" (1950), a collection of short stories partially based on ideas from ancient Greek and Roman mythology. Then he followed the anti-Utopian writers Yevgeni Zamyatin and Aldous Huxley in his best-known work, "Fahrenheit 451" (1953). The film adaptation (Fahrenheit 451 (1966)) by director François Truffaut, starring Julie Christie, received several nominations. However, Bradbury was not happy with the television adaptation (The Martian Chronicles (1980), starring Rock Hudson) of his story "The Martian Chronicles". His other novels and stories also have been adapted to films and television, as well as for radio, theatre and comic books. Bradbury had written episodes for Alfred Hitchcock's television series, as well as for many other television productions. His total literary output is close to 600 short stories, more than 30 books and numerous poems and plays. He was writing daily.
In 2004, Bradbury received a National Medal of Arts. He was given a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6644 Hollywood Boulevard. An asteroid was named in his honor, "9766 Bradbury", and the Apollo 15 astronauts named an impact crater on the moon "Dandelion Crater", after his novel, "Dandelion Wine". He also received the World Fantasy Award for Lifetime Achievement, the Grand Master Award from Science Fiction Writers of America, an Emmy Award for his work as a writer on "The Halloween Tree", and many other awards and honors. Ray Bradbury died on June 6, 2012, at the age of 91, in Los Angeles, California.- IMDb Mini Biography By: Steve Shelokhonov
- SpouseMaggie Bradbury(September 27, 1947 - November 24, 2003) (her death, 4 children)
- Themes of nostalgia
- Uses science fiction to explore existential and political ideals and the darker side of humanity
- Highly poetic and metaphorical style of writing
- After finishing high school, he didn't have the money to go to college so instead went down to his local library to read three nights a week. In 10 years' time, he read all the books in the library and considered that to be his higher education instead.
- In 1950, he discovered comic-book publisher William M. Gaines (later famous for producing Mad magazine) had published several of his stories without his permission. Bradbury wrote Gaines a letter praising the artwork and treatment of his story, and politely asked for his royalty payment. He received the payment.
- He was the great-great-great grandson of Mary Bradbury, a woman who was tried in the Salem Witch Trials in 1692, but escaped before she was to be hanged.
- Despite the anti-censorship message of "Farenheit 451", Bradbury has continually had to fight his publisher's censors who want to tamper or alter the language and tone of the book. He says that the irony is obviously lost on them.
- He once visited the set of Star Trek (1966) as a potential writer for the series. Crew members remembered him as being very polite and courteous, thinking he was already making himself at home. It later turned out that he never had any intention to join the writing team, but wanted to come anyway. He remained friends with series creator Gene Roddenberry until Gene's death on October 24, 1991.
- The best scientist is open to experience and begins with romance - the idea that anything is possible.
- Touch a scientist and you touch a child.
- [on writing "Fahrenheit 451"] I wasn't trying to predict the future. I was trying to prevent it.
- I am one of those fortunate people who were born to be joyful writers discovered the fact early on.
- Sense of humor is everything. You can do anything in this world if you have a sense of humor. Many directors, producers, people haven't learned that -- that if you just salt people down a little and put a bit of butter on them and make them happy, then we can all work together.
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