Biography for
John Updike More at IMDbPro »

Date of Birth

18 March 1932, Shillington, Pennsylvania, USA

Date of Death

27 January 2009, Beverly Farms, Massachusetts, USA (lung cancer)

Birth Name

John Hoyer Updike

Mini Biography

John Updike is among the leading novelists of the late 20th century, having twice won the Pulitzer Prize. Updike graduated Harvard College in 1954 to the staff of the New Yorker, with whom he has worked ever since as a contributor and reviewer. Updike has published 15 novels and lives in Massachusetts

IMDb Mini Biography By: Robert Drake

Spouse

Martha Bernhard	(30 September 1977 - 27 January 2009) (his death)
Mary E. Pennington	(26 June 1953 - 1976) (divorced) 4 children

Trivia

Born at 6:00am-EST

Updike has won almost every major literature award, except the Nobel prize.

He thought he was dying during his first attack of breathlessness in his twenties. The diagnosis was bronchial asthma, aggravated by his cats.

His book, The Witches of Eastwick, was adapted to a West End Musical and performed at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane, London and was nominated for the Laurence Olivier Theatre Award for Best New Musical in 2001 (2000 season).

Petitioned for the release of the legendary Sergei Parajanov from Ukrainian prisons.

Biography/bibliography in: "Contemporary Authors". New Revision Series, Vol. 133, pp. 421-432. Farmington Hills, MI: Thomson Gale, 2005.

He was awarded the American National Medal of the Arts in 1989 by the National Endowment of the Arts in Washington D.C.

Probably best known for his Rabbit books, proving he favors naturalism and realism in his writing. "Rabbit Is Rich" (1981) and "Rabbit At Rest" (1990) both won the Pulitzer Prize.

Currently lives in Beverly Farms, Massachusettes.

Debut novel titled: The Carpentered Hen and Other Tame Creatures (1958).

Personal Quotes

With the waning of everything, with the waning of the sexual drive, the witch capacity, there probably goes a certain lessening of artistic passion. I suppose I feel that in my own work. The world would really be none the worse if I were not to write anymore. But I keep wanting to do it, in part to fill the time. I don't know what you've found, but nothing makes the time pass so much as writing. You look up, and two hours have gone by! You know? It's a wonderful antidote to boredom or dullness.

Browse biographies section by name

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z