Charles Portis
Charles McColl Portis (born December 28, 1933 in El Dorado , Arkansas , † February 17, 2020 in Little Rock , Arkansas) was an American writer . He became known through his novels Norwood (1966) and True Grit (1968), both of which were filmed - the last time True Grit was in 2010.
Life
Charles Portis was the son of Samuel Palmer Portis and his wife Alice (née Waddell). During the Korean War , he joined the United States Marine Corps and was promoted to Sergeant . From 1955 he attended the University of Arkansas; he began his career there by writing for the student newspaper. After graduating, he wrote, now a diplomat , the “Our town” column for the Arkansas Gazette , and later for the New York Herald Tribune . He then spent a year in London.
After giving up journalism in 1964, he began his writing career with a few short stories . His first novel, Norwood , was reprinted in sections in the bi-weekly Saturday Evening Post . It was a great success, so in 1970 a film adaptation directed by Jack Haley, Jr. was shot.
In 1968 his second novel, True Grit, appeared as a sequel to the Saturday Evening Post . The commercial success was even greater than that of Norwood ; it is Portis' most successful book. The western was first filmed in 1969 as The Marshal with John Wayne , who received an Oscar for portraying the main character . In 2010 Ethan and Joel Coen produced another film adaptation with Jeff Bridges . Portis wrote three other books, but they could not build on the success of the previous books.
Works
- Norwood, 1966
- True Grit , 1968
- The Dog of the South, 1979
- Masters of Atlantis, 1985
- Gringos, 1991
- Escape Velocity: A Charles Portis Miscellany, 2012
Web links
- Literature by and about Charles Portis in the catalog of the German National Library
- Charles Portis in the Internet Movie Database (English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ Novelist Charles Portis dies at 86 , arktimes.com, published and accessed on February 17, 2020
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Portis, Charles |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Portis, Charles Mc Coll |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | American writer |
| DATE OF BIRTH | December 28, 1933 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | El Dorado , Arkansas |
| DATE OF DEATH | 17th February 2020 |
| Place of death | Little Rock , Arkansas |