Mary Higgins Clark facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Mary Higgins Clark
Higgins Clark at the Mazza Museum in 2012
Born	Mary Theresa Eleanor Higgins (1927-12-24)December 24, 1927 Bronx, New York, the.U.S.
Died	January 31, 2020(2020-01-31) (aged 92) Naples, Florida, U.S.
Resting place	Gate of Heaven Cemetery Hawthorne, New York
Pen name	Mary Higgins Clark
Occupation	Novelist
Alma mater	Fordham University
Period	1975–2020
Genre	Suspense, mystery, psychological thriller
Spouse	Warren Clark ​ ​ (m. 1949; died 1964)​ Raymond Ploetz ​ ​ (m. 1978; annulled 1986)​ John J. Conheeney ​ ​ (m. 1996; died 2018)​
Children	5, including Carol Higgins Clark
Signature

Mary Higgins Clark (born Mary Theresa Eleanor Higgins, December 24, 1927 – January 31, 2020) was a famous American writer of exciting suspense novels. All 51 of her books became bestsellers in the U.S. and other countries. Her first suspense novel, Where Are the Children?, was printed many, many times!

Mary Higgins Clark started writing when she was very young. After working as a secretary and editor, she became a flight attendant for Pan-American Airlines. She left that job to get married and start a family. To help her family, she wrote short stories. After her husband passed away in 1964, she wrote short radio scripts for many years. Her agent then encouraged her to write novels. Her first novel, about George Washington, did not sell well. So, she decided to write the mystery and suspense stories she loved. These books became very popular, selling over 100 million copies in the U.S. alone. Her daughter, Carol Higgins Clark, and her former daughter-in-law, Mary Jane Clark, are also writers.

Mary Higgins Clark's Early Life

Mary Theresa Eleanor Higgins was born on Christmas Eve in 1927. She was the second child and only daughter of Nora and Luke Joseph Higgins. Her father was an immigrant from Ireland, and her mother was American, also of Irish background.

Mary was interested in writing even as a small child. She wrote her first poem at age seven. She also created short plays for her friends to act out. She started keeping a journal when she was seven years old. Her first entry said, "Nothing much happened today."

Family Life and Challenges

The family lived from the money their Irish pub made. They owned a home in the Bronx and a summer house on Long Island Sound. When the Great Depression started, Mary's family was not affected at first. They even gave food to men who came to their door looking for work.

However, by the time Mary was ten, her family began to have money problems. Many customers could not pay their bar tabs. Mary's father had to let go of some workers and work longer hours. In 1939, Mary's father died in his sleep.

Her mother, Nora, was now a widow with three young children. It was hard for her to find a job. To pay the bills, Mary had to move out of her room so her mother could rent it to boarders. Six months after her father's death, Mary's older brother, Joseph, got a bad foot infection. Mary and her mother prayed for him, and neighbors gave blood for his many transfusions. Joseph survived, and Mary believed it was because of their prayers.

School and First Jobs

When Mary graduated from Saint Francis Xavier Grammar School, she received a scholarship. This allowed her to go to Villa Maria Academy, a school run by nuns. Her teachers there encouraged her writing. However, they were not always happy when she wrote stories during class instead of paying attention. At sixteen, Mary tried to publish her work for the first time. She sent a story to True Confessions, but it was rejected.

To help with money, she worked as a switchboard operator at the Shelton Hotel. She often listened to the conversations of the people staying there. She remembered listening to famous writer Tennessee Williams, but he never said anything interesting. On her days off, Mary would look at clothes in store windows. She imagined wearing them when she became a famous writer.

Despite Mary's help, the family still struggled financially. They lost their house and moved into a small apartment. In 1944, Mary's brother Joseph joined the Navy. He wanted to serve his country and help his mother. Six months later, he got spinal meningitis and passed away. His death was very sad for the family. However, because he was a dependent, his mother received a pension, which helped with their money problems.

Mary Higgins Clark's Early Career

After Joseph died, Mary graduated from high school. She then went to Wood Secretarial School. The next year, she got a job as a secretary at Remington Rand. She also took evening classes to learn about advertising. Her skills and looks were noticed, and she started writing for catalogs and modeling for company brochures. She even modeled with a young Grace Kelly, who later became a famous actress and princess.

Mary enjoyed her job, but a friend's comment about traveling inspired her. She decided to become a flight attendant for Pan American Airlines. She earned less money, but it was an exciting job. Her boss at Remington Rand threw her a goodbye dinner. Mary invited her neighbor, Warren Clark, whom she had liked for years. By the end of the night, Warren suggested she work as a flight attendant for a year, and then they should get married. Mary accepted!

Flying and Marriage

In 1949, Mary worked on international flights for Pan Am. She traveled through Europe, Africa, and Asia. One of her flights was the last one allowed into Czechoslovakia before the Iron Curtain closed. On another flight, she helped a four-year-old orphan meet her adoptive mother. This moment was shown on TV.

At the end of her year of flying, on December 26, 1949, Mary happily married Warren Clark. To keep busy, she started taking writing courses at NYU. She also joined a writing workshop with classmates. The group met weekly for almost forty years. Members would share their work and give helpful feedback.

One of her NYU professors told the class to get ideas from newspapers. He suggested asking "Suppose...?" and "What if...?" Mary still used these questions, plus "Why?", to get ideas for her stories. For her first NYU assignment, she wrote "Stowaway." It was about a flight attendant who finds a stowaway from Czechoslovakia on her plane. Her professor loved the story, but it took Mary a long time to find a publisher. Finally, in 1956, after six years and forty rejections, Extension Magazine bought the story for $100.

Family and Writing Success

During those six years, Mary and Warren had four children: Marilyn, Warren Jr., David, and Carol. After her first short story sold, Mary started selling her work more often. She met a literary agent, Patricia Schartle Myrer, through her writing workshop. Patricia represented Mary for twenty years and became a close friend. Mary even named her fifth child, Patty, after her.

While Warren worked and Mary wrote, they encouraged their children to earn money too. All five children eventually took acting and modeling jobs. Young Patty was even a Gerber Baby! Mary herself filmed a TV commercial for laundry detergent. The commercial, which aired during the I Love Lucy show, earned her enough money for her and Warren to take a trip to Hawaii.

In 1959, Warren Clark was diagnosed with a heart condition. He had three heart attacks over the next five years. After the last one in 1964, Mary felt Warren would not be able to work again. She called a friend who wrote radio scripts to ask about jobs. The day she accepted a job writing for a radio series called "Portrait of a Patriot," Warren had a fatal heart attack. Mary lost both her husband and her mother-in-law that night.

Becoming a Novelist

Mary Higgins Clark's first job as a radio scriptwriter required her to write 65 four-minute programs. She was so good that she was asked to write two other radio series. This experience taught her to write clearly and briefly. These skills are very important for suspense novels, where every sentence must move the story forward. Even with her new job, money was tight as she raised five children alone. For their first Christmas without Warren, Mary could only give her children personalized poems about the gifts she wished she could buy.

By the late 1960s, the market for short stories had almost disappeared. Many popular magazines stopped publishing fiction. Because her short stories could no longer find a publisher, Mary's agent suggested she try writing a full-length novel. Mary spent three years writing a story about George Washington and Martha Washington called Aspire to the Heavens. This book was accepted by a publisher, which gave Mary confidence. However, the novel did not sell well. Four months after it was published, Mary's mother, Nora, passed away.

Education and Family Success

Mary wanted her children to have good educations. To set an example, she enrolled in Fordham University in 1971. She graduated with honors in 1979, earning a degree in philosophy. Her children followed her example. Her two oldest children, Marilyn and Warren, became judges. Patty works at the Mercantile Exchange in New York City. David is a company president, and Carol has written many popular suspense novels.

During this time, Mary was unhappy with her job. Even though two of her children still needed her help with college tuition, she quit. She started her own company with two former co-workers to write radio scripts. To get the $5000 she needed to start the business, Mary had to pawn her engagement ring. For eight months, she did not receive a salary, which made money even tighter for her family. Mary continued writing even during these difficult times.

Success in Suspense Novels

Mary's agent encouraged her to write another book. Mary decided to go back to the suspense stories she loved as a child. These were the stories that had given her first success as a short story writer. While she was writing, her younger brother Johnny died. This meant Mary was the only surviving member of her immediate family. To help with her sadness, Mary focused on her writing and soon finished her novel.

The book, Where Are the Children?, was quickly bought by Simon & Schuster for $3000. Three months later, in July 1974, Mary learned that the paperback rights for the novel had sold for $100,000! For the first time in many years, she did not have to worry about money. Where Are the Children? became a bestseller and received good reviews. Two years later, Mary sold her second suspense novel for $1.5 million.

Since 2010, a company in Paris has been making some of her crime novels into TV films. In 2019, a new partnership was formed to develop more TV shows based on Mary Higgins Clark's crime novels.

Other Writings and Later Life

Mary Higgins Clark's first novel, Aspire to the Heavens, was re-released in 2002 with a new title: Mount Vernon Love Story. In the same year, she published her autobiography, Kitchen Privileges, which used her lifelong journals. In 2006, she announced she would publish her first children's book, Ghost Ship.

She also wrote several Christmas-themed mystery novels with her daughter, Carol. Readers enjoyed these books, but some critics felt they were lighter in tone than her solo work.

Later Years and Family

Mary Higgins Clark dated after her first husband passed away. Her second marriage (1978–1986) ended in annulment.

In 1996, she married John J. Conheeney. Her daughter, Patty, introduced them. John J. Conheeney passed away in 2018 at age 89. He was a retired CEO of Merrill Lynch Futures. Mary and John lived in Saddle River, New Jersey. Mary had first moved to New Jersey in 1956 with her first husband. They also had homes in Manhattan, Spring Lake, New Jersey, and Dennis, Massachusetts.

In 1981, Mary Higgins Clark was in Washington, D.C., the day President Ronald Reagan was shot. Because she had a press pass, she was able to join the media waiting for news about the President. When the doctor came to speak, Mary was one of the few people chosen to ask a question.

In 2011, she was the Grand Marshal of the St. Patrick's Day Parade in New York City.

Mary Higgins Clark passed away in Naples, Florida, on January 31, 2020, at the age of 92.

Book and TV Adaptations

Many of Mary Higgins Clark's books have been made into movies and television shows.

Theatrical Film Adaptations

• 1982: A Stranger Is Watching
• 1986: Where Are the Children?

Selected Television Adaptations

• 1983: The Cradle Will Fall
• 1987: Stillwatch
• 1992: Double Vision
• 1992: Terror Stalks the Class Reunion
• 1992: A Cry in the Night
• 1992: Weep No More My Lady
• 1995: Remember Me
• 1997: Let Me Call You Sweetheart
• 1997: While My Pretty One Sleeps
• 1998: Moonlight Becomes You
• 2001: Loves Music, Loves to Dance
• 2002: You Belong to Me
• 2002: Pretend You Don't See Her
• 2002: Haven't We Met Before?
• 2002: Lucky Day
• 2002: All Around The Town
• 2002: We'll Meet Again
• 2002: He Sees You When You're Sleeping
• 2003: A Crime of Passion
• 2003: Before I say Goodbye
• 2004: I'll Be Seeing You
• 2004: Try to Remember
• 2004: The Cradle Will Fall
• 2004: Try to Remember
• 2011: Deck the Halls
• 2013: The Mystery Cruise
• 2013: Toi que j'aimais tant (Daddy's Little Girl)
• 2014: My Gal Sunday
• 2014: Où es-tu maintenant (Where Are You Now?)
• 2014: Deux petites filles en bleu (Two Little Girls in Blue)
• 2015: Souviens-toi (Remember Me )
• 2015: La clinique du docteur H (The Cradle Will Fall)
• 2015: Les années perdues (The Lost Years)
• 2018: Rien ne vaut la douceur du foyer (No Place like Home)
• 2018: Ce que vivent les roses (Let Me Call You Sweetheart)

See also

In Spanish: Mary Higgins Clark para niños