George Plimpton
George Ames Plimpton (born March 18, 1927 in New York City , † September 25, 2003 there ) was an American writer and above all a promoter of young writers.
Life
Plimpton was the eldest of four children from parents Francis T. Plimpton and Pauline Ames Plimpton. He had two brothers and a sister. He attended Phillips Exeter Academy in New Hampshire and wrote for the school newspaper. After graduating from school in 1944, he went to Harvard University , where he studied English and also worked for the Harvard Lampoon .
From 1945 to 1948 Plimpton served in the United States Army , including some time as a tank driver in Italy. He was promoted to lieutenant in the army. After leaving the army, he studied at King's College , Cambridge , where he received his BA in 1952 and an MA two years later
After Plimpton had visited Paris in 1952 , he discussed with a few friends, including Peter Matthiessen , the establishment of a literary magazine, which was also realized as the Paris Review in 1953 and whose (honorary) editor-in-chief was Plimpton. He kept this activity until the end. From 1956 to 1958 he was a teacher at Barnard College and in 1959 the sports enthusiast Plimpton boxed with the then light heavyweight champion Archie Moore .
In the documentary When We Were Kings (director: Leon Gast , 1997 Oscar for best documentary) Plimpton and Norman Mailer commented on the historic boxing match Rumble in the Jungle (German: "The fight in the jungle") between the then heavyweight world champion George Foreman and the ex-world champion Muhammad Ali , which took place on October 30, 1974 in Kinshasa .
In 2002 he was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters .
Plimpton died of a heart attack in New York at the age of 76 . The asteroid (7932) Plimpton was named after him on June 7, 2009.
Works
- Paper Lion (1966)
- Out of My League
- Truman Capote
- Bogey Man
- Shadow box
- Mad Ducks and Bears
Web links
- Don Swaim : Interview with George Plimpton , December 15, 1986 (mp3), Wired for Books, Ohio University , accessed March 16, 2015.
- George Plimpton in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Works by and about George Plimpton at Open Library
Individual evidence
- ^ Members: George Plimpton. American Academy of Arts and Letters, accessed April 20, 2019 .
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Plimpton, George |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Plimpton, George Ames (full name) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | American writer and promoter of young writers |
| DATE OF BIRTH | March 18, 1927 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | New York City |
| DATE OF DEATH | September 25, 2003 |
| Place of death | New York City |