Biography for
Ayn Rand More at IMDbPro »

Date of Birth

2 February 1905, St. Petersburg, Russia

Date of Death

6 March 1982, New York City, New York, USA (heart failure)

Birth Name

Alissa Zinovievna Rosenbaum

Height

5' 2" (1.57 m)

Spouse

Frank O'Connor

(15 April 1929 - 9 November 1979) (his death)

Trade Mark

Extremely analytical.

Piercing eyes.

Trivia

She appears on a 33 cent U.S. postage stamp, which debuted 22 April 1999, in New York City.

Was a "friendly witness" before the House Un-American Activities Committee, testifying on alleged Communist "influences" in Hollywood.

At the time of her death, she was working on the script for a television adaptation of her novel "Atlas Shrugged".

She called her philosophy of rational selfishness "Objectivism", and wrote what would be her last novel, "Atlas Shrugged", as an illustration of it. She spent her later years writing articles, books and a newsletter on Objectivism.

Her philosophy of "Objectivism": Rational selfishness is a virtue; altruism (self-sacrifice) is a vice.

She met future husband Frank O'Connor on the set of The King of Kings (1927), and they married in part because her visa was about to expire.

Had a longtime amphetamine prescription for "weight control"; it is believed that this may have influenced some of her later behavior and decision-making. However, her biographer and longtime friend, Barbara Branden, insists that the dosage was very low, and that when told of the risk, Rand easily stopped taking the drug.

Stayed with relatives in Chicago when she first came to the U.S., but nearly drove them crazy with her late hours spent typing and improving her English skills. Moved to Hollywood to get into the movie business, since it was still the silent-film era and the demand was more for scenarios than actual dialogue.

Turned twenty-one during her voyage to America, and also changed her name, in part to protect her family back in Soviet Russia. "Ayn" (rhymes with "mine") came from a Finnish author. The exact origin of her last name is uncertain; however, in 1936, she told the New York Evening Post that 'Rand is an abbreviation of my Russian surname.' An oft-repeated story claims that Ayn Rand took her last name from her Remington Rand typewriter while she was living in Chicago in 1926, but this is not true because the Remington and Rand companies did not merge until 1927; 'Rand' did not appear on their (or any) typewriters until the early 1930s. Yet another theory is that "Rosenbaum" spelled out in Russian Cyrilic letters resembles "Rand Ayn" in English Latin letters. She kept her initials A.R.; explaining later "Two kinds of people keep their initials when they change their names - criminals and writers," to her protegé Nathaniel Branden (himself born Nathan Blumenthal).

Shortly before her death in the early '80s, when she appeared on "The Phil Donahue Show" (1970), she expressed admiration for the "Charlie's Angels" (1976) TV series, defending it as a form of romantic fiction.

Is portrayed by Helen Mirren in The Passion of Ayn Rand (1999).

Biography in: "The Scribner Encyclopedia of American Lives". Volume One, 1981-1985, pages 666-668. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1998.

When she appeared on "The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson" (1962) he had originally intended to bring her on during the last few minutes. After talking with her before the broadcast, he threw out the entire program and put her on for the duration.

Refused to allow her publisher to edit or prune her manuscripts.

Once worked in the wardrobe department at RKO Pictures, for which she was paid $25.00 a week.

First underwent surgery for lung cancer in 1974.

Personal Quotes

The skyline of New York is a monument of a splendor that no pyramids or palaces will ever equal or approach.

Altruism declares that any action taken for the benefit of others is good, and any action taken for one's own benefit is evil. Thus the beneficiary of an action is the only criterion of moral value - and so long as that beneficiary is anybody than oneself, anything goes.

Upper classes are a nation's past; the middle class is its future.

Productive work is the central purpose of a rational man's life, the central value that integrates and determines the hierarchy of all his other values. Reason is the source, the precondition of his productive work - pride is the result.

To hold an unchanging youth is to reach at the end, the vision with which one started.

[in "Brief Summary," The Objectivist, Sept. 1971] I am not primarily an advocate of capitalism, but of egoism; I am not primarily an advocate of egoism, but of reason. If one recognizes the supremacy of reason and applies it consistently, all the rest follows. This--the supremacy of reason--was, is and will be the primary concern of my work, and the essence of Objectivism.

Every man builds his world in his own image. He has the power to choose, but no power to escape the necessity of choice.

Happiness is that state of consciousness which proceeds from the achievement of one's values.

Money is only a tool. It will take you wherever you wish, but it will not replace you as the driver.

The smallest minority on earth is the individual. Those who deny individual rights cannot claim to be defenders of minorities.

The principle of free speech requires . . . that we do not pass laws forbidding Communists to speak. But the principle of free speech . . . does not imply that we owe them jobs and support to advocate our own destruction at our own expense.

You can avoid reality, but you cannot avoid the consequences of avoiding reality.

On strategy: In order to live...act; in order to act...make choices.

On love: Love is not self-sacrifice, but the most profound assertion of your own needs and values. It is for your own happiness that you need the person you love, and that is the greatest compliment, the greatest tribute you can pay to that person.

On growth: People create their own questions because they're afraid to look straight. All you have to do is look straight and see the road, and when you see it, don't sit looking at it-walk.

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