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Harold Robbins
Harold Robbins (1979).jpg
Harold Robbins (1979)
Born
Harold Rubin

(1916-05-21)May 21, 1916
Died October 14, 1997(1997-10-14) (aged 81)
Resting place Forest Lawn Cemetery, Cathedral City, California
Nationality American
Occupation Author
Spouse(s) Lillian Machnivitz (1937–1962; divorced)
Grace Palermo (1965–1992; divorced)
Jann Stapp (1992–1997, his death)

Harold Robbins (May 21, 1916 – October 14, 1997) was an American author of popular novels. One of the best-selling writers of all time, he wrote over 25 best-sellers, selling over 750 million copies in 32 languages.

Early life

Robbins was born Harold Rubin in New York City in 1916, the son of Frances "Fannie" Smith and Charles Rubin. His parents were well-educated Jewish emigrants from the Russian Empire, his father from Odessa and his mother from Neshwies (Nyasvizh), south of Minsk. Robbins later falsely claimed to be a Jewish orphan who had been raised in a Catholic boys' home. Instead he was raised by his father, a pharmacist, and his stepmother, Blanche, in Brooklyn.

Robbins dropped out of high school in the late 1920s to work in a variety of jobs, including errand boy, bookies' runner, and inventory clerk in a grocers. He was employed by Universal Pictures from 1940 to 1957, starting off as a clerk and rising to an executive.

Work

His first book was Never Love a Stranger (1948). The Dream Merchants (1949) was a novel about the American film industry, from its beginning to the sound era in which Robbins blended his own life experiences with history, melodrama, and glossy high society into a fast-moving story. His 1952 novel, A Stone for Danny Fisher, was adapted into a 1958 motion picture King Creole, which starred Elvis Presley.

Among his best-known books is The Carpetbaggers – featuring a protagonist who was a loose composite of Howard Hughes, Bill Lear, Harry Cohn, and Louis B. Mayer. The Carpetbaggers takes the reader from New York to California, from the prosperity of the aeronautical industry to the glamor of Hollywood. Its sequel, The Raiders, was released in 1995.

After The Carpetbaggers and Where Love Has Gone (1962) came The Adventurers (1966), based on Robbins's experiences living in South America, including three months spent in the mountains of Colombia with a group of bandits. The book was adapted into a film in 1970, also titled The Adventurers. He created the ABC television series The Survivors (1969-1970), starring Ralph Bellamy and Lana Turner.

Since his death, several new books have been published, written by ghostwriters and based on Robbins's own notes and unfinished stories.

Personal life

Robbins was married three times, first to his high school sweetheart, Lillian Machnivitz. In 1965 he wed Grace Palermo, who went on to pen an account of her life with Robbins in 2013. Divorced in the early 1990s, Robbins married Jann Stapp in 1992; they remained together until his death.

He spent a great deal of time on the French Riviera and at Monte Carlo until his death from respiratory heart failure, at the age of 81 in Palm Springs, California. His cremated remains are interred at Forest Lawn Cemetery in Cathedral City. Robbins has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6743 Hollywood Boulevard.

Novels

  • Never Love a Stranger, 1948 (made into the 1958 film)
  • The Dream Merchants, 1949 (made into a 1980 TV miniseries)
  • A Stone for Danny Fisher, 1952 (made into the 1958 film King Creole)
  • Never Leave Me, 1953
  • 79 Park Avenue, 1955 (made into the 1977 TV miniseries)
  • Stiletto, 1960 (made into the 1969 film)
  • The Carpetbaggers, 1961 (made into both the 1964 film of the same name and the 1966 film Nevada Smith)
  • Where Love Has Gone, 1962 (made into the 1964 film)
  • The Adventurers, 1966 (made into the 1970 film)
  • The Inheritors, 1969
  • The Betsy, 1971 (made into the 1978 film)
  • The Pirate, 1974 (made into the 1978 TV movie)
  • The Lonely Lady, 1976 (made into the 1983 film)
  • Dreams Die First, 1977
  • Memories of Another Day, 1979
  • Goodbye, Janette, 1981
  • The Storyteller, 1982
  • Spellbinder, 1982
  • Descent from Xanadu, 1984
  • The Piranhas, 1986
  • The Raiders, 1995 (sequel to The Carpetbaggers)
  • The Stallion, 1996 (sequel to The Betsy)
  • Tycoon, 1997

Posthumously published novels credited to Robbins

Works bearing Robbins name continued to appear after his death. The earliest three posthumous Harold Robbins novels (The Predators (1998), The Secret (2000) and Never Enough (2001) are generally thought to have been completed by ghostwriters, but may have been partially or even substantially based on completed work or notes written by Robbins. Junius Podrug has been identified as the uncredited ghostwriter of Sin City (2002) and Heat of Passion (2003). From 2004-2011, a series of novels credited to Harold Robbins and Junius Podrug appeared, although they are strictly the work of Podrug, writing in Robbins' style.

  • The Predators, 1998
  • The Secret, 2000 (sequel to The Predators)
  • Never Enough, 2001
  • Sin City, 2002
  • Heat of Passion, 2003
  • The Betrayers (with Junius Podrug), 2004
  • Blood Royal (with Junius Podrug), 2005
  • The Devil to Pay (with Junius Podrug), 2006
  • The Looters (with Junius Podrug), 2007, Madison Dupree No. 1
  • The Deceivers (with Junius Podrug), 2008, Madison Dupree No. 2
  • The Shroud (with Junius Podrug), 2009, Madison Dupree No. 3
  • The Curse (with Junius Podrug), 2011, Madison Dupree No. 4

See also

Kids robot.svg In Spanish: Harold Robbins para niños

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