John Steinbeck in 1939 Born

Occupation
Writer
Nationality	American
Education	Los Angeles High School
Period	1938–2012^[1]
Genre	Fantasy, science fiction, horror fiction, mystery fiction, magic realism
Notable works	Fahrenheit 451 The Martian Chronicles Something Wicked This Way Comes The Illustrated Man
Notable awards	American Academy of Arts and Letters (1954) Inkpot Award (1974)^[2] Daytime Emmy Award (1994) National Medal of Arts (2004) Pulitzer Prize Special Citation (2007)
Spouse	Marguerite McClure ​ ​ (m. 1947; died 2003)​
Children	4
Signature
Website
www.raybradbury.com

Ray Douglas Bradbury (/ˈbrædˌbɛri/; August 22, 1920 – June 5, 2012) was an American author and screenwriter. One of the most celebrated 20th-century American writers, he worked in a variety of modes, including fantasy, science fiction, horror, mystery, and realistic fiction.^[3]

Bradbury was mainly known for his novel Fahrenheit 451 (1953) and his short-story collections The Martian Chronicles (1950) and The Illustrated Man (1951).^[4] Most of his best known work is speculative fiction, but he also worked in other genres, such as the coming of age novel Dandelion Wine (1957) and the fictionalized memoir Green Shadows, White Whale (1992). He also wrote and consulted on screenplays and television scripts, including Moby Dick and It Came from Outer Space. Many of his works were adapted into television and film productions as well as comic books.

The New York Times called Bradbury "the writer most responsible for bringing modern science fiction into the literary mainstream."^[4]



Contents

• 
  1Early life
  
• 
  2Influences
  
  • 
    2.1Literature
    
  • 
    2.2Hollywood
    
• 
  3Career
  
• 
  4Writing
  
  • 
    4.1"Green Town"
    
• 
  5Cultural contributions
  
• 
  6Personal life
  
• 
  7Death
  
• 
  8Bibliography
  
  • 
    8.1First novel
    
  • 
    8.2Intended first novel
    
• 
  9Adaptations to other media
  
• 
  10Awards and honors
  
• 
  11Documentaries
  
• 
  12References
  
• 
  13Sources
  
• 
  14External links
  

Early life[edit]

Bradbury as a senior in high school, 1938

Bradbury was born on August 22, 1920,^[5] in Waukegan, Illinois,^[6] to Esther (née Moberg) Bradbury (1888–1966), a Swedish immigrant, and Leonard Spaulding Bradbury (1890–1957),^[7] a power and telephone lineman of English ancestry.^[8] He was given the middle name "Douglas" after the actor Douglas Fairbanks. Bradbury was related to the U.S. Shakespeare scholar Douglas Spaulding^[9] and descended from Mary Bradbury, who was tried at one of the Salem witch trials in 1692.^[10]

Bradbury was surrounded by an extended family during his early childhood and formative years in Waukegan. An aunt read him short stories when he was a child.^[11] This period provided foundations for both the author and his stories. In Bradbury's works of fiction, 1920s Waukegan becomes "Green Town", Illinois.

The Bradbury family lived in Tucson, Arizona, during 1926–1927 and 1932–1933 while their father pursued employment, each time returning to Waukegan. While living in Tucson, Bradbury attended Amphi Junior High School and Roskruge Junior High School. They eventually settled in Los Angeles in 1934 when Bradbury was 14 years old. The family arrived with only US$40 (equivalent to $764 in 2019), which paid for rent and food until his father finally found a job making wire at a cable company for $14 a week (equivalent to $268 in 2019). This meant that they could stay, and Bradbury, who was in love with Hollywood, was ecstatic.^{[citation needed]}

Bradbury attended Los Angeles High School and was active in the drama club. He often roller-skated through Hollywood in hopes of meeting celebrities. Among the creative and talented people Bradbury met were special-effects pioneer Ray Harryhausen and radio star George Burns. Bradbury's first pay as a writer, at age 14, was for a joke he sold to George Burns to use on the Burns and Allen radio show.^[12][13]

Influences[edit]