Pat Frank
| Pat Frank | |
|---|---|
| File:Pat Frank, Author.jpg | |
| Born | Harry Hart Frank Jr. May 5, 1908 Chicago, Illinois, US |
| Died | Script error: The function "death_date_and_age" does not exist. Jacksonville, Florida, US |
| Occupation | Journalist and author |
| Nationality | American |
| Alma mater | University of Florida |
| Notable works | Alas, Babylon, Mr. Adam |
| Children | Perry Frank Patrick Frank |
Pat Frank (May 5, 1908 – October 12, 1964) was the pen name of the American writer, newspaperman, and government consultant Harry Hart Frank.[1] Frank's best known work is the 1959 post-apocalyptic novel Alas, Babylon. His other books include Mr. Adam, Hold Back the Night, and Forbidden Area.
Biography
Frank was born in Chicago in 1908. He was a journalist and information handler for several newspapers, agencies, and government bureaus.[2] During his early career, he lived mainly in New York, Washington, and overseas during World War II. He worked for the Office of War Information and was a correspondent in Italy, Austria, Germany, and Turkey. He died on October 12, 1964, in Jacksonville, Florida at age 56 of acute pancreatitis.[3]
Works
Nearly all men are sterile in Mr. Adam (1946), Frank's first published work. His other novels include Hold Back the Night, An Affair of State, and Forbidden Area. Frank's experiences reporting on the Korean War are described in his autobiographical travelogue The Long Way Round and influenced Hold Back the Night.
Frank wrote his most popular work, the post-apocalyptic novel Alas, Babylon, while living in Tangerine, Florida, on Lake Beauclaire near Mount Dora. Vivian Owens, an author familiar with local history, states that "Pistolville", the name Frank gave to an area near Fort Repose in the novel, was in fact a location situated between the southern edge of Mount Dora to its north and Tangerine to its south.[4][page needed] According to Owens, greater Mount Dora was intended by Frank to be the model for his semi-fictional Fort Repose.[5]
Frank also wrote a 160 page non-fiction book, How To Survive the H Bomb And Why (1962).
Frank's fiction provided the basis for several TV dramas and two feature films, the 1956 drama Hold Back the Night and Howard Hawk's 1964 comedy Man's Favorite Sport (based on Frank's short story "The Girl Who Almost Got Away"). In addition, he wrote one original screenplay, for the 1963 Bay of Pigs-inspired drama, We Shall Return.[6]
Frank received the American Heritage Foundation Award in 1961.
See also
References
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- ↑ Owens 2000, p. ?.
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- ↑ Pat Frank filmography. IMDb. Retrieved 2013-04-01.
- Citations
- Owens, Vivian W. The Mount Dorans: African American History Notes of a Florida Town. Waynesboro, VA: Eschar Publications, 2000. ISBN 0-9623839-8-8.
External links
- Pat Frank at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database
- Pat Frank at the Internet Movie Database
- "Pat Frank's Alas, Babylon 50 years later" in The Florida Times-Union
- Pat Frank at Library of Congress Authorities, with 13 catalog records
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