Robert Lewis Taylor (September 24, 1912 – September 30, 1998) was an American writer and winner of the 1959 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.

Education

Born in Carbondale, Illinois, Taylor attended Southern Illinois University for one year.[1] The university now houses his papers.[2] He graduated from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign with a bachelor of arts in 1933.[citation needed]

Career

After college, he became a journalist and won awards for reporting.[citation needed] In 1939, he became a writer for The New Yorker magazine, contributing biographical sketches. His work also appeared in The Saturday Evening Post and Reader's Digest.[citation needed]

From 1942 to 1946, Taylor served in the United States Navy during World War II. During his service, he wrote numerous stories and Adrift in a Boneyard, an extended fiction about survivors of a disaster. In 1949,The Saturday Evening Post commissioned a series of biographical sketches of W. C. Fields. He published them together as W. C. Fields: His Follies and Fortunes. Taylor continued to write fiction and biographies, including one on Winston Churchill.[citation needed]

Taylor's 1958 novel The Travels of Jaimie McPheeters, about a 14-year-old and his father in the California Gold Rush, won the Pulitzer Prize and was purchased for a film, but eventually became a television series, instead.[3] A Journey to Matecumbe was adapted in 1976 as the Disney movie Treasure of Matecumbe.[4] His novel Professor Fodorski served as the basis for the 1962 musical All American.[5]

Taylor died on September 30, 1998.[6][7]

Bibliography

References

  1. ^ Fischer, Heinz D. (2012). Novel / Fiction Awards 1917-1994. Walter de Gruyter p. 159. ISBN 978-3-1109-7211-5.
  2. ^ Grace, Fran (2001). Carry A. Nation: Retelling the Life. Indiana University Press p. 264. ISBN 978-0-2531-0833-3.
  3. ^ "How Books Shaped The American National Identity". WBUR-FM. August 14, 2012. Retrieved February 22, 2020.
  4. ^ Taylor, Drew (November 13, 2019). "15 Obscure Movies and TV Shows on Disney+ You Need to Check Out". Syfy Wire. Retrieved February 22, 2020.
  5. ^ "All American Broadway @ Winter Garden Theatre - Tickets and Discounts". Playbill. Retrieved September 21, 2021.
  6. ^ Stewart, Barbara (October 4, 1998). "Robert Lewis Taylor Is Dead, Novelist and Biographer, 88". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved September 21, 2021.
  7. ^ Pearson, Richard (October 5, 1998). "ROBERT LEWIS TAYLOR DIES". Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved September 21, 2021.

External links

Pulitzer Prize for Fiction
Authority control databases
Categories