Norman Kingsley Mailer
10 min read
Reading time
1,960
Words
Published
41
Film credits
104
Books
12
Awards
Norman Mailer, author of The Naked and the Dead 1948, won two Pulitzer Prizes and pioneered New Journalism with works like The Armies of the Night 1969. He was also a filmmaker and celebrity who died in 2007 at age 84 from renal failure. He remains a towering figure in American letters.
Names, aliases, and relatives of Norman Mailer — birth name, kin, and personal ties.
Norman Mailer by the numbers — life, work, and family.
Norman Mailer — early life, career, personal life, and legacy.
Born in Long Branch, New Jersey in 1923 to Jewish parents Fanny Schneider and Isaac Barnett Mailer, Mailer grew up in Brooklyn, New York. He entered Harvard College in 1939 at age 16 to study engineering, but soon fell in love with literature and began writing. His father was an accountant and his mother ran a nursing agency.
Mailer’s breakthrough came with The Naked and the Dead 1948, a bestseller based on his WWII infantry service that launched his career. After two failed novels, he reinvented himself with Superman Comes to the Supermarket 1960, seminal New Journalism about JFK. He won Pulitzers for The Armies of the Night 1969 and The Executioner’s Song 1980. Mailer also directed films like Maidstone 1970 and wrote screenplays.
Mailer married six times, including Adele Morales 1954-1962, whom he stabbed with a penknife at a party in 1960, an incident he believed cost him the Nobel Prize. He had eight children, including actor Stephen Mailer and writer John Buffalo Mailer. He lived in New York City and Provincetown with his sixth wife Norris.
Mailer pioneered New Journalism, elevating reporting into literature and influencing Tom Wolfe and others. He is the only person to win both a Pulitzer Prize and a Golden Raspberry Award. His works, including The Naked and the Dead and The Armies of the Night, are considered essential to understanding postwar America.
Browse the complete filmography of Norman Mailer — every film, TV show, and documentary credit, ranked by popularity.
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Every award, honor, and recognition received by Norman Mailer — Grammys, hall-of-fame inductions, civic honors, lifetime achievements.
Norman Mailer's bibliography — every authored, edited, and co-written book, ranked by edition count.
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A wall of memorable lines from Norman Mailer — lyrics, interviews, and off-the-cuff remarks captured over a lifetime.
Movie Making Is Like Sex. You Start Doing It, and Then You Get Interested in Getting Better at It.
Making a Film Is a Cross Between a Circus, a Military Campaign, a Nightmare, and Orgy and a High.
Great Writers Are Not Easy to Read, and Shouldn’t Be.
You Don’t Know a Woman Until You’ve Met Her in Court.
Masculinity Is Not Something Given to You, but Something You Gain. and You Gain It by Winning Small Battles with Honor.
You Know, a Criminal Will Never Forgive You for Preventing Them from Committing the Crime That Is Really in Their Heart.
I’ve Always Felt My Relationship to the United States Is Analogous to a Marriage. I Love This Country. I Hate It. I Get Angry by It. I Feel Close to It. I’m Charmed by It. I’m Repelled by It.
Writing Books Is the Closest Men Ever Come to Childbearing.
Every Writer Has Something to Be Ashamed Of.
Little-known facts about Norman Mailer — origins, oddities, and behind-the-scenes details from a public life.
He won two Pulitzer Prizes: one for non-fiction The Armies of the Night 1969 and one for fiction The Executioner’s Song 1980.
His breakthrough novel The Naked and The Dead 1948 draws from his WWII experiences and is considered one of the 100 best English-language novels by the Modern Library.
Mailer believed he would never win a Nobel Prize because he stabbed his then-wife Adele Morales with a penknife at a party in 1960.
He earned an Engineering Science degree from Harvard University in 1943.
Testified as a celebrity witness at the trial of the Chicago Eight in 1969-1970.
While writing Barbary Shore 1951, he lived one floor above Soviet spy Rudolf Abel, later featured in Bridge of Spies 2015.
He coined the term factoid in his 1973 biography of Marilyn Monroe.
One of the leading New Journalism authors, he also wrote biographies of Marilyn Monroe, Pablo Picasso, and Lee Harvey Oswald.
Mentioned in the song Are You Ready to Be Heartbroken? by Lloyd Cole & The Commotions; both share the birthday January 31st.
Member of the Official Competition jury at the 40th Cannes International Film Festival in 1987.
Studied aeronautical engineering at Harvard University, graduating in 1943.
Lived in New York City and Provincetown, MA with his sixth wife Norris.
Ran in the Democratic Party primary for Mayor of New York City in 1969 but was not selected.
Born to Isaac Barnett Mailer and Fanny Schneider, he grew up in Brooklyn, New York.
Father of eight children: Michael, Matthew, Stephen, Kate, Maggie, John Buffalo, and others.
His biography/bibliography appears in Contemporary Authors, New Revision Series, Vol. 130, pp. 273-282 2005.
Nearly 11 years after Marilyn Monroe’s death, Mailer appeared on the cover of Time Magazine July 17, 1973 alongside her photo, for his book Marilyn.
A huge fan of author Neil Gaiman.
Nominated for the 2013 New Jersey Hall of Fame in the General Category.
As of 2025, he is the only person to win both a Pulitzer Prize and a Razzie.
Quick answers to the questions readers ask most about Norman Mailer.
Celebrities similar to Norman Mailer — same craft, ranked by reach.
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