12 min read
Reading time
2,209
Words
Published
3
Film credits
159
Books
27
Awards
John Updike won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction twice, for Rabbit Is Rich in 1981 and Rabbit at Rest in 1990. He graduated from Harvard College in 1954 and joined The New Yorker, contributing fiction and reviews for decades. His novel The Witches of Eastwick was adapted into a West End musical in 2001. Updike published 15 novels and lived in Massachusetts until his death from lung cancer in 2009.
Names, aliases, and relatives of John Updike — birth name, kin, and personal ties.
John Updike by the numbers — life, work, and family.
John Updike — early life, career, personal life, and legacy.
The only child of Wesley Russell Updike, a junior high math teacher, and Linda Grace Hoyer, John Updike was born on March 18, 1932, in Shillington, Pennsylvania. He attended Governor Mifflin Senior High School, then Harvard College, graduating in 1954. After Harvard, he studied at the Ruskin School of Drawing and Fine Art at Oxford.
In 1954, after graduating from Harvard, Updike joined the staff of The New Yorker, contributing reviews and fiction. His debut novel, The Carpentered Hen and Other Tame Creatures, appeared in 1958. His Rabbit series earned him two Pulitzer Prizes for Fiction: Rabbit Is Rich 1981 and Rabbit at Rest 1990. In 1968, film producer David Wolper purchased the rights to his novel Couples for $500,000. The Witches of Eastwick, later adapted into a West End musical, premiered in 2001. He also voiced himself on The Simpsons.
Updike married Mary E. Pennington on June 26, 1953; they had four children: Elizabeth, Michael, David, and Miranda. The couple divorced in 1976. On September 30, 1977, he married Martha Bernhard, who remained his spouse until his death. Later, he lived in Beverly Farms, Massachusetts. He suffered from chronic psoriasis and bronchial asthma; an asthma attack in his twenties made him fear he was dying.
Updike won two Pulitzer Prizes, two National Book Awards, and the National Medal of Arts in 1989, among many other honors. In 1982, the Beverly Hall of Fame inducted him, and Harvard University awarded him an honorary doctorate. Alec Guinness called his novel In the Beauty of the Lilies the most accurate portrait of film stardom he had ever read. Updike also supported the United States’ involvement in the Vietnam War and petitioned for the release of filmmaker Sergei Parajanov. The Rabbit series, which defined American realism in the late 20th century, remains his most celebrated work.
Browse the complete filmography of John Updike — every film, TV show, and documentary credit, ranked by popularity.
Every award, honor, and recognition received by John Updike — Grammys, hall-of-fame inductions, civic honors, lifetime achievements.
John Updike's bibliography — every authored, edited, and co-written book, ranked by edition count.
Could not load more books.
A wall of memorable lines from John Updike — lyrics, interviews, and off-the-cuff remarks captured over a lifetime.
With the Waning of Everything, with the Waning of the Sexual Drive, the Witch Capacity, There Probably Goes a Certain Lessening of Artistic Passion. I Suppose I Feel That in My Own Work. the World Would Really Be None the Worse If I Were Not to Write Anymore. but I Keep Wanting to Do It, in Part to Fill the Time. I Don’t Know What You’ve Found, but Nothing Makes the Time Pass so Much as Writing. You Look Up, and Two Hours Have Gone By! You Know? It’s a Wonderful Antidote to Boredom or Dullness.
Creativity Is Merely a Plus Name for Regular Activity. Any Pastime Becomes Creative When We Care About Doing It Right, And/or Better.
Celebrity Is a Mask That Eats into the Face.
The True New Yorker Secretly Believes That People Living Anywhere Else Have to Be, in Some Sense, Kidding.
Little-known facts about John Updike — origins, oddities, and behind-the-scenes details from a public life.
The only major literature award Updike did not win was the Nobel Prize.
During his first attack of breathlessness in his twenties, he thought he was dying; it was diagnosed as bronchial asthma, aggravated by his cats.
He is best known for his Rabbit books, which favor naturalism and realism: Rabbit Is Rich 1981 and Rabbit at Rest 1990 both won the Pulitzer Prize.
His novel The Witches of Eastwick was adapted into a West End musical performed at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane, London, and nominated for the Laurence Olivier Theatre Award for Best New Musical in 2001.
He petitioned for the release of legendary Ukrainian filmmaker Sergei Parajanov from prison.
A biography and bibliography of Updike appears in Contemporary Authors, New Revision Series, Vol. 133, pp. 421-432 Thomson Gale, 2005.
He was awarded the American National Medal of the Arts in 1989 by the National Endowment of the Arts in Washington D.C.
His debut novel was The Carpentered Hen and Other Tame Creatures 1958.
He was the father of David Updike.
In his later life, he resided in Beverly Farms, Massachusetts.
He was inducted into the Beverly Massachusetts Hall of Fame in 1982.
Alec Guinness wrote that Updike’s 1996 novel In the Beauty of the Lilies was the most devastatingly accurate portrait of the impact of film stardom on the human soul.
Along with fellow novelist James Michener, he supported the United States’ involvement in the Vietnam War.
The film producer David Wolper purchased the rights to Updike’s novel Couples for $500,000 USD.
He was afflicted with chronic psoriasis.
With his wife Mary he had four children: Elizabeth, Michael, David, and Miranda.
His father was a junior high math teacher.
He was born at 6:00 a.m. EST.
Quick answers to the questions readers ask most about John Updike.
Celebrities similar to John Updike — same craft, ranked by reach.
🇷🇺 Russia
🇺🇸 United States
🇺🇸 United States
🇮🇪 Ireland
🇫🇷 France
🇩🇪 Germany
🇬🇧 United Kingdom
🇫🇷 France
🇷🇺 Russia
🇫🇷 France
🇿🇦 South Africa
🇯🇵 Japan
