Ray Bradbury Biography (1920-)

Full name, Ray Douglas Bradbury; born August 22, 1920, in Waukegan, IL; son of Leonard Spaulding (an electric company linesman) and Esther Marie (maiden name, Moberg) Bradbury; married Marguerite Susan McClure, September 27, 1947 (died November 24, 2003); children: Susan Marguerite, Ramona, Bettina, Alexandra. Addresses: Agent: Don Congdon, 156 Fifth Ave., No. 625, New York,NY 10010.

Nationality: American
Gender: Male
Occupation: Writer, producer, television show creator, editor
Birth Details: August 22, 1920; Waukegan, Illinois, United States

Famous Works

CREDITS
Television Work
Series
Creator, editor, and (with Peter Sussman and Larry Wilcox) executive producer, The Ray Bradbury Theatre (also known as The Bradbury Trilogy, Le monde fantastique de Ray Bradbury, Mystery Theatre, The Ray Bradbury Theatre, and Ray Bradbury presente; includes adaptations of Bradbury's stories, such as "The Playground," "The Crowd," "Banshee," "The Screaming Woman," "The Town Where No One Got Off," "The Lake," "ThePedestrian," "The Chicago Abyss," and "The Veldt"), HBO, 1985-87, then USA Network, 1987-92
Specials
Executive producer (Wilcox Productions), The Town Where No One Got Off, HBO, 1986
Executive producer (Wilcox Productions), The Screaming Woman, HBO,1986
Executive producer (Wilcox Productions), Banshee, HBO, 1986
Television Appearances
Series
Host, The Ray Bradbury Theatre (also known as The Bradbury Trilogy, Le monde fantastique de Ray Bradbury, Mystery Theatre, The Ray Bradbury Theatre, and Ray Bradbury presente), HBO, 1985-87, then USA Network, 1987-92
Specials
Voice of Ralph as Man, Any Friend of Nicholas Nickleby Is a Friend ofMine, 1982
Himself, The Whimsical World of Oz (documentary), 1985
Host, The Town Where No One Got Off, HBO, 1986
Host, The Screaming Woman, HBO, 1986
Host, Banshee, HBO, 1986
Neptune All Night, PBS, 1989
Presenter, The 64th Annual Academy Awards, ABC, 1992
Voice, The Halloween Tree (animated), syndicated, 1993
Himself, In Search of Oz (documentary), Arts and Entertainment, 1994
"Outer Space: Can We afford to Go?," The Cronkite Report, The Discovery Channel, 1994
Corwin (documentary), PBS, 1996
Interviewee, "Moby Dick," Great Books, The Learning Channel, 1996
Interviewee, Ray Bradbury: An American Icon (also known as Masters of Fantasy: Ray Bradbury, an American Icon), Sci-Fi Channel, 1996
Fantasy: Ray Bradbury, an American Icon), Sci-Fi Channel, 1996
Future Fantastic (documentary), The Learning Channel, 1997
Masters of Fantasy: Arthur C. Clarke (documentary), Sci-Fi Channel, 1997
Himself, Universal Horror (documentary), TCM, 1998
Himself, The Harryhausen Chronicles (documentary), AMC, 1998
Himself, Lon Chaney: A Thousand Faces (documentary), TCM, 2000
Himself, Walt: The Man Behind the Myth (documentary), ABC, 2001
Tales of Edgar Allen Poe (documentary), The Learning Channel, 2001
Hugh Hefner: American Playboy Revisited (documentary), Arts and Entertainment, 2001
Himself, Hollywood Legends (documentary), 2004
Episodic
Guest, Politically Incorrect with Bill Maher, Comedy Central, 1996
Himself, The Screen Savers, Tech TV, 2003
Himself, Dennis Miller, CNBC, 2004
Also appeared in Today, NBC; also interviewed on numerous Larry King shows, as well as other talk shows.
Film Work
Creative consultant, Mirrors (also known as Marianne), 1978
Film Appearances
Narrator, King of Kings, 1961
Literary party guest, Rich and Famous, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer/UnitedArtists, 1981
Himself, The Fantasy Film Worlds of George Pal (documentary), Passport Video, 1985
Himself, 100 Years of Horror: The Evil Unseeable (documentary), Passport Video, 1996
Himself, 100 Years of Horror: Sorcerers (documentary), Passport Video, 1996
Himself, 100 Years of Horror: Giants and Dinosaurs (documentary),Passport Video, 1996
Himself, Amargoas, 2000
(Uncredited), The Tramp and the Dictator (documentary), 2002
Ray Bradbury Dancing among the Muses, 2001
Himself, The Optimistic Futurist (documentary short film), 2004
Stage Work
(With S. L. Stebel and Charles Rome Smith) Producer, Next in Line,Pandemonium Theatre Company, New Ivar Theatre, 1992
RECORDINGS
Videos
Himself, "Brace New Prune," The Stan Freberg Commercials (also known as Tip of the Freberg: The Stan Freberg Collection), 1999
WRITINGS
Plays
The Meadow, produced at Huntington Hartford Theatre, Hollywood, CA, 1960
Way in the Middle of the Air, produced at Desilu Gower Studios, Hollywood, 1962
The Anthem Sprinters, and Other Antics (four one-acts), produced at Beverly Hills Playhouse, Beverly Hills, CA, 1967, published by Dial, 1963
The World of Ray Bradbury (three one-acts: The Pedestrian, The Veldt, and To the Chicago Abyss), produced at Coronet Theatre, Los Angeles, 1964, then Orpheum Theatre, New York City, 1965
The Wonderful Ice Cream Suit, produced at Coronet Theater, 1965, later Bouwerie Lane Theatre, New York City, 1981, published by Dramatic Publishing, 1986
The Day It Rained Forever (one-act), published by Samuel French, 1966
The Pedestrian (one-act), published by Samuel French, 1966
Dandelion Wine (based on his novel of the same title; music composed by Billy Goldenberg), produced at Forum Theatre, New York City, 1967, later Goodman Theatre, Chicago, IL, 1976, then Arena Stage, Washington, DC, 1982-83, published by Dramatic Publishing, 1988
Any Friend of Nicholas Nickleby Is a Friend of Mine, produced 1968
Christus Apollo (music by Jerry Goldsmith), produced at Royce Hall, University of California, Los Angeles, 1969
Leviathan 99, produced at Stage 9 Theatre, 1972
The Wonderful Ice Cream Suit and Other Plays (contains The Wonderful Ice Cream Suit, The Veldt, and To the Chicago Abyss),published by Bantam, 1972, published in England as The Wonderful Ice Cream Suit and Other Plays for Today, Tomorrow, and Beyond Tomorrow, Hart-Davis, 1973
Madrigals for the Space Age (for chorus and narrator; music composed by Lalo Schifrin) produced at Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, Los Angeles, 1973, published by Music Publishers, 1972
Pillar of Fire, produced at Little Theatre, California State College, Fullerton, CA, 1973
Pillar of Fire and Other Plays for Today, Tomorrow, and Beyond Tomorrow (contains Pillar of Fire, Kaleidoscope, and The Foghorn [based on his story of same title]), published by Bantam, 1975
That Ghost, That Bride of Time: Excerpts from a Play-in-Progress,published by Roy A. Squires Press, 1976
The Martian Chronicles (based on his novel of same title), produced at Colony Theatre, Los Angeles, 1977, published by Dramatic Publishing, 1986
Fahrenheit 451 (musical; based on his story of same title), produced at Colony Theatre, 1979, published by Dramatic Publishing, 1986
The Veldt (based on his story of the same title), first produced in London, 1980, published by Dramatic Publishing, 1989
A Device Out of Time, published by Dramatic Publishing, 1986
The Flying Machine, published by Dramatic Publishing, 1986
Kaleidoscope, published by Dramatic Publishing, 1986
Falling Upward, produced at Melrose Theatre, Los Angeles, 1988, published by Dramatic Publishing, 1989
To the Chicago Abyss, published by Dramatic Publishing, 1989
Ray Bradbury on Stage: A Chrestomathy of His Plays, 1991
Screenplays
The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms (based on his story "The Foghorn"),Warner Bros., 1953
It Came from Outer Space (based on a story by Bradbury), 1953
(With John Huston) Moby Dick (based on Herman Melville's novel ofthe same title; also known as Herman Melville's Moby Dick), Warner Bros., 1956
(With George C. Johnson) Icarus Montgolfier Wright, Format Films,1962
(Author of narration and creative consultant) An American Journey,U.S. Government for United States Pavilion at New York World's Fair, 1964

(As Douglas Spaulding; with Ed Weinberger) Picasso Summer, WarnerBros./Seven Arts, 1972
Something Wicked This Way Comes (based on his novel of same title), Buena Vista, 1983
Little Nemo: Adventures in Slumberland, 1992
The Wonderful Ice Cream Suit (based on his stage play of the sametitle and the short story "The Magic White Suit"), Buena Vista, 1998
Con palos y piedras (short film), 2000
Television Episodes
"Shopping for Death," Alfred Hitchcock Presents, 1955
"The Marked Bullet," Jane Wyman's Fireside Theatre (also known asJane Wyman Presents and Jane Wyman Theatre), 1956
"Design for Loving," Alfred Hitchcock Presents, 1958
"The Gift," Steve Canyon, 1958
"Tunnel to Yesterday," The Troubleshooters, 1959
"Special Delivery," Alfred Hitchcock Presents, 1959
"The Faith of Aaron Menefee," Alfred Hitchcock Presents, 1962
"The Jail," Alcoa Premiere, 1962
"I Sing the Body Electric," The Twilight Zone, 1962
"The Life Work of Juan Diaz," The Alfred Hitchcock Hour, 1964
The Fox and the Forest (also known as Out of the Unknown: Fox and the Forest), 1965
"The Burning Man," Twilight Zone, CBS, 1985
The Ray Bradbury Theatre, HBO, 1985-87, then USA Network, 1987-92
"The Elevator," Twilight Zone, CBS, 1986
Also wrote "The Groon," The Curiosity Shop; "Zero Hour," Star Tonight; "The Jar," Alfred Hitchcock Presents; episodes of Suspense, CBS Television Workshop, CBS, Windows, and Historias para no dormir.
Television Specials
Any Friend of Nicholas Nickleby Is a Friend of Mine, 1982
"The Invisible Boy," Robbers, Rooftops and Witches, 1982
Savannen, 1983
"Walking on Air," WonderWorks, PBS, 1987
The Halloween Tree (animated; based on his juvenile novel of the same title), syndicated, 1993
Radio Plays
Leviathan 99, BBC, 1966
"Bradbury 13," NPR Playhouse, National Public Radio, 1984
Forever and the Earth (limited edition), published by Croissant and Co., 1984
Also contributed to CBS Radio Playhouse, c. 1940s.
Novels
The Martian Chronicles, Doubleday, 1950, revised edition publishedas The Silver Locusts, Hart-Davis, 1951
Dandelion Wine, Doubleday, 1957
Sun and Shadow, Quenian Press, 1957
Something Wicked This Way Comes, Simon & Schuster, 1962
Death Is a Lonely Business, Knopf, 1985
A Graveyard for Lunatics, Knopf, 1990
The Dead Ride Fast, Knopf, 1990
Green Shadows, White Whale, 1992
Let's All Kill Constance, Morrow, 2003
Short Story Collections
Dark Carnival, Arkham, 1947, revised edition, Hamish Hamilton, 1948
The Illustrated Man, Doubleday, 1951, revised edition, Hart-Davis,1952
The Golden Apples of the Sun, Doubleday, 1953, revised edition, Hart-Davis, 1953
The October Country, Ballantine, 1955
A Medicine for Melancholy, Doubleday, 1959, revised edition published in England as The Day It Rained Forever, Hart-Davis, 1959
The Small Assassin, Ace Books, 1962
The Machineries of Joy, Simon & Schuster, 1964
The Vintage Bradbury, Vintage, 1965
Twice Twenty-Two (contains The Golden Apples of the Sun andA Medicine for Melancholy), Doubleday, 1966
(With Robert Bloch) Bloch and Bradbury: Ten Masterpieces of Science Fiction, Tower, 1969, published in England as Fever Dreams and Other Fantasies, Sphere, 1970, published as Whispers from Beyond, Peacock Press, 1972
I Sing the Body Electric!, Knopf, 1969
Ray Bradbury, Harrap, 1975
Long after Midnight, Knopf, 1976
(And author of introduction) To Sing Strange Songs, Wheaton, 1979
(And author of introduction) The Last Circus, Lord John, 1980
The Stories of Ray Bradbury, Knopf, 1980
(And author of introduction) A Memory for Murder, Dell, 1984
The Toynbee Convector, Knopf, 1988
Kaleidoscope, 1994
Quicker Than the Eye, Avon, 1997
Driving Blind, Avon, 1997
Ahmed and the Oblivion Machines: A Fable, 1998
Ray Bradbury Collected Short Stories, Peterson Publishing, 2001
One More for the Road: A New Short Story Collection, Morrow, 2002
Bradbury Stories: 100 of His Most Celebrated Tales, Morrow, 2003
Poetry
Old Ahab's Friend, and Friend to Noah, Speaks His Piece: A Celebration, Roy A. Squires Press, 1971
When Elephants Last in the Dooryard Bloomed: Celebrations for Almost Any Day in the Year, Knopf, 1973
That Son of Richard III: A Birth Announcement, Roy A. Squires Press, 1974
Where Robot Mice and Robot Men Run Round in Robot Towns: New Poems, Both Light and Dark, Knopf, 1977
Twin Hieroglyphs That Swim the River Dust, Lord John, 1978
The Bike Repairman, Lord John, 1978
The Author Considers His Resources, Lord John, 1979
The Attic Where the Meadow Greens, Lord John, 1979
The Haunted Computer and the Android Pope, Knopf, 1981
The Complete Poems of Ray Bradbury (contains Where Robot Mice and Robot Men Run Round in Robot Towns, The Haunted Computer and the Android Pope, and When Elephants Last in the Dooryard Bloomed), Ballantine, 1982
The Last Good Kiss: A Poem, illustrated by Hans Burkhardt, Santa Susana Press, 1984
Forever and the Earth, 1984
Death Has Lost Its Charm for Me, Lord John, 1987
With Cat for Comforter, Gibbs Smith, 1997
Dogs Think That Every Day Is Christmas, Gibbs Smith, 1997
I Love by the Invisible: New and Selected Poems, Salmon, 2002
Juvenile Story Collections
R Is for Rocket, Doubleday, 1962
S Is for Space, Doubleday, 1966
The April Witch, Creative Education, Inc., 1987
The Other Foot, Creative Education, Inc., 1987
The Foghorn, Creative Education, Inc., 1987
The Veldt, Creative Education, Inc., 1987
Fever Dream, St. Martin's, 1987
The Smile, Creative Education, Inc., 1991
Other Juveniles
Switch on the Night, Pantheon, 1955, reprinted with illustrationsby Leo Dillon and Diane Dillon, Knopf, 1993
The Halloween Tree (novel), Knopf, 1972
The Dragon, illustrated by Ken Snyder, B. Munster, 1988
A Graveyard for Lunatics: Another Tale of Two Cities, Knopf, 1990
Ahmed and the Oblivions Machines, Avon, 1998
Something Wicked This Way Comes, Avon, 1999
You Are Here: The Jerde Partnership International, Phaidon Press Ltd., 1999
Death Is a Lonely Business, Avon, 1999
The Illustrated Many, Chivers Press, 1999
The Country, Avon, 1999
From the Dust Returns: A Family Remembrance, William Morrow, 2001
The Cat's Pajamas, Morrow, 2004
Other
(Editor and contributor) Timeless Stories for Today and Tomorrow,Bantam, 1952
Fahrenheit 451 (collection; contains "Fahrenheit 451," "The Playground," and "And the Rock Cried Out"), Ballantine, 1953, reprinted with foreword by Bradbury, Simon & Schuster, 1993
Fahrenheit 451 (previously published as part of collection), Hart-Davis, 1954
(Editor) The Circus of Dr. Lao and Other Improbable Stories, Bantam, 1956
(With Lewy Olfson) Teachers Guide: Science Fiction (essay), Bantam, 1968
(With Bruce Murray, Arthur C. Clarke, Walter Sullivan, and Carl Sagan) Mars and the Mind of Man (verse and essays), Harper, 1973
Zen and the Art of Writing (essays), Capra Press, 1973
The Best of Bradbury, Bantam, 1976
The Mummies of Guanajuato (short story), Abrams, 1978
The Aqueduct (short story), Roy A. Squires Press, 1979
Beyond 1984: Remembrance of Things Future (articles and poems), Targ, 1979
About Norman Corwin (essay), California State University, Northridge, 1980
The Ghosts of Forever (five poems, a story, and an essay), Rizzoli, c. 1981
Dinosaur Tales (verse and short story collection), Bantam, 1983
The Love Affair (a short story and two poems), Lord John, 1983
(Author of text) Los Angeles, Skyline Press, 1984
(Author of text) Orange County, Skyline Press, 1985
(Author of text) The Art of "Playboy," Alfred Van der Mack, 1985
Folon's Folons, 1990
Yestermorrow: Obvious Answers to Impossible Futures, 1991
(Editor) A Day in the Life of Hollywood, 1992
Journey to Far Metaphor: Further Essays on Creativity, Writing, Literature, and the Arts, 1994
The First Book of Dichotomy, the Second Book of Symbiosis, 1995
A Chapbook for Burnt-Out Priests, Rabbis, and Ministers, 2001
Conversations with Ray Bradbury, University Press of Mississippi,2004
Author of forewords and prologues for other publications and authors. Bradbury's work is represented in seven hundred anthologies (many of which are school texts), including Best American Short Stories, 1946, 1948, 1952,and 1958, and The Ghoul Keepers, Pyramid Books, 1961. Contributor ofshort stories and articles, sometimes under pseudonyms, to Life, Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, Omni, Reporter, Playboy, Saturday Review, Weird Tales, and other periodicals.

Further Reference

ADAPTATIONS

The motion picture El marciano, released in 1965, was based on a Bradbury story. Fahrenheit 451 was adapted into a screenplay, releasedby Universal, 1966, a new film version was released in 2005, and it was adapted as an opera, by Georgia Holof and David Mettere, first produced at the Indiana Civic Theater, Fort Wayne, IN, 1988. The Illustrated Man was adapted into a screenplay, released by Warner Bros., 1969. The film MelodramaInfernal, released in 1969, was based on stories by Bradbury. The story "The Screaming Woman" was filmed for television in 1972; and the story "Murderer" was filmed for television by WGBH-TV, Boston, MA, 1976. The Martian Chronicles was filmed as a television miniseries, c. 1980; it also served as the basis for the screenplay Trinadtsaty Apostol (also known as The 13th Apostle), released in 1988. The story "Frost and Fire" was adapted as the screenplay Quest, released in 1983. The film All Summer ina Day, released in 1982, is based on a story by Bradbury. "The ElectricGrandmother" has been adapted into a television play, by Jeffrey Kindley, Peacock Theatre, NBC, 1983. The 1986 television special, Banshee,was based on a Bradbury story, as was the film Veld, 1987. The story "Next in Line" was adapted as a play by S. L. Stebel and Charles Rome Smith, and produced by the Pandemonium Theatre Company, at the New Ivar Theatre, 1992. The television movie It Came from Outer Space II, released on the Sci-Fi Channel in 1996, was based on a story by Bradbury. The motion picture El Umrbal was based a story by Bradbury and released in 2003. The motionpicture A Sound of Thunder was based on a short story by Bradbury andreleased by Warner Bros., 2005. The 1996 television miniseries Vino iz Oduvanchikov (also known as Dandelion Wine) was also based on Bradbury's books. Other Bradbury works have been adapted into other media, including sound recordings. The Autumn People, Ballantine, 1965, and Tomorrow Midnight, Ballantine, 1966, are comic adaptations of some of Bradbury's stories. The television special Walking on Air (also known as Wonderworks), which aired on PBS, was adapted from one of his short stories.

OTHER SOURCES

Books

Contemporary Authors, New Revision Series, Volume 30, Gale, 1990
Contemporary Literary Criticism, Gale, Volume 1, 1973, Volume 3, 1975, Volume 10, 1979, Volume 15, 1980, Volume 42, 1987
Contemporary Novelists, 7th edition, St. James Press, 2001
Dictionary of Literary Biography, Gale, Volume 2: American Novelists since World War II, 1978, Volume 8, Twentieth-Century American Science Fiction Writers, 1981
Greenberg, Martin H., and Joseph D. Olander, editors, Ray Bradbury, Taplinger, 1980
Johnson, Wayne L., Ray Bradbury, Ungar, 1980
Nolan, William F., The Ray Bradbury Companion, Gale, 1974
St. James Encyclopedia of Popular Culture, St. James Press, 2004
Weist, Bradbury: An Illustrated Life: A Journey to Far Metaphor, HarperCollins, 2002

Periodicals

Publishers Weekly, October 22, 2001, p. 40
Starlog, April, 1990, p. 29

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