Leon Uris

Leon Marcus Uris (August 3 1924 - June 21 2003) was an American novelist, known for his historical fiction and the deep research that went into his novels. His two bestselling books were Exodus, published in 1958, and Trinity, in 1976.

Life

Leon Uris was born in Baltimore, Maryland, the son of Jewish-American parents Wolf William and Anna (Blumberg) Uris. His father, a Polish-born immigrant, was a paperhanger and then later a storekeeper. William spent a year in Palestine after World War I before entering the United States. He derived his surname from Yerushalmi, meaning "man of Jerusalem." "He was basically a failure," Uris later said of his father. "He went from failure to failure."

Uris attended schools in Norfolk, Virginia and Baltimore, but never graduated from high school, having failed English three times. At the age of seventeen Uris joined the United States Marine Corps. He served in the South Pacific as a radioman at Guadalcanal, Tarawa, and New Zealand from 1942 to 1945. While recuperating from malaria in San Francisco, he met Betty Beck, a Marine sergeant. They married in 1945.

In 1950, "Esquire" magazine bought an article from him and this encouraged him to work on a novel. The result was the best seller "Battle Cry," graphically showing the toughness and courage of U.S. Marines in the Pacific and "The Angry Hills," a novel set in war-time Greece.

As a screen writer and a newspaper correspondent, he became intensely interested in Israel which led to his best-known work, "Exodus," which is about Jewish history from the late 19^th century through the founding of the state of Israel in 1948. "Exodus" was a worldwide bestseller, translated into a dozen languages, and was made into a feature film in 1960, starring Paul Newman, as well as a short-lived Broadway musical (12 previews, 19 performances) in 1971.

Later works include "Mila 18," a story of the Warsaw ghetto uprising, "Armageddon: A Novel of Berlin," which reveals the detailed work by British and American intelligence services in planning for the occupation and pacification of post WWII Germany, "Trinity," an epic novel about Ireland's struggle for independence, "QB VII," a chilling novel about the role of a Polish doctor in a German concentration camp, and "The Haj," with insights into the history of the Middle East and the secret machinations of foreigners which have led to today's turmoil.

He also wrote the screenplays for "Battle Cry" and "Gunfight at the O.K. Corral."

Leon Uris died of renal failure at his Long Island home on Shelter Island, aged 78.

Uris was married three times. First with Betty Beck in 1945, with whom he had three children, and divorced in 1968, then with Margery Edwards in 1969, who died of an apparent suicide a year later, and finally with Jill Peabody in 1970, with whom he had two children, and divorced in 1989. They remained friends.

Trivia

• In some of his books a likeable character is associated with the number 359195: for example, Danny Forrester's (Battle Cry) and Clinton Loveless' (Armageddon) service numbers and the number tattooed onto Dov Landau's (Exodus) forearm as his registration number in Auschwitz.

• He was born on the day on which Joseph Conrad died. Both writers had strong Polish connections.

Selected titles

• Battle Cry, 1953
• The Angry Hills, 1955
• Exodus, 1958
• Exodus Revisited, 1960 (GB title: In the Steps of Exodus)
• Mila 18, 1961
• Armageddon: A Novel of Berlin, 1963
• Topaz, 1967
• The Third Temple (with Strike Zion by William Stevenson), 1967
• QB VII, 1970
• Ireland, A Terrible Beauty, 1975 (with Jill Uris)
• Trinity, 1976
• Jerusalem: A Song of Songs, 1981 (with Jill Uris)
• The Haj, 1984
• Mitla Pass, 1988
• Redemption, 1995
• A God in Ruins, 1999
• O'Hara's Choice, 2003

See also

• List of bestselling novels in the United States

External links

• Inventory of Leon Uris novel and screenplay manuscripts and other documents
• Exodus1947.com PBS Documentary Film focusing on the secret American involvement in real life Exodus, narrated by Morley Safer