Douglas Gresham is an American-born
BritishThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
biographer and
filmA film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...
producerA film producer oversees and delivers a film project to all relevant parties while preserving the integrity, voice and vision of the film. They will also often take on some financial risk by using their own money, especially during the pre-production period, before a film is fully financed.The...
, resident in
MaltaMalta , officially known as the Republic of Malta , is a Southern European country consisting of an archipelago situated in the centre of the Mediterranean, south of Sicily, east of Tunisia and north of Libya, with Gibraltar to the west and Alexandria to the east.Malta covers just over in...
, and one of the two stepsons of
C. S. LewisClive Staples Lewis , commonly referred to as C. S. Lewis and known to his friends and family as "Jack", was a novelist, academic, medievalist, literary critic, essayist, lay theologian and Christian apologist from Belfast, Ireland...
.
Personal life
Gresham was born in
New York CityNew York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, the son of writers
William Lindsay GreshamWilliam Lindsay Gresham was an American novelist and non-fiction author particularly regarded among readers of noir. His best-known work is Nightmare Alley , which was adapted into a 1947 film starring Tyrone Power.- Biography :Gresham was born in Baltimore, Maryland...
and Joy Davidman. William Gresham was the author of
Nightmare Alley, the recently re-released classic of American noir literature, while Joy Davidman was best known for her book
Smoke on The Mountain. The couple divorced in 1952, and Joy relocated to England with her two sons. Until recently, Douglas and his wife, Merrie, lived at Rathvinden House in
LeighlinbridgeLeighlinbridge is a village on the River Barrow in County Carlow, Ireland. The N9 National primary route once passed through the village, which was by-passed in the 1980s. It now lies on the R705 regional road....
,
County CarlowCounty Carlow is a county in Ireland. It is part of the South-East Region and is also located in the province of Leinster. It is named after the town of Carlow, which lies on the River Barrow. Carlow County Council is the local authority for the county...
,
IrelandIreland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
. In 2008, they moved permanently to their house in
MaltaMalta , officially known as the Republic of Malta , is a Southern European country consisting of an archipelago situated in the centre of the Mediterranean, south of Sicily, east of Tunisia and north of Libya, with Gibraltar to the west and Alexandria to the east.Malta covers just over in...
. They have five children: three sons and two daughters.
C. S. Lewis
Gresham's mother had become friends with C.S. Lewis through correspondence, and the friendship blossomed, eventually leading to marriage in 1956. Gresham's mother lost a battle with cancer in 1960, and Lewis continued to raise Douglas and his elder brother David. (Lewis had adopted the boys when he married, and
The Horse and His BoyThe Horse and His Boy is a novel by C. S. Lewis. It was published in 1954, making it the fifth of seven books published in Lewis' series The Chronicles of Narnia. The books in this series are sometimes ordered chronologically in relation to the events in the books as opposed to the dates of their...
is dedicated to them both). At Lewis' death in 1963, his estate went to his brother Major Warren Hamilton Lewis, a renowned scholar of French history. The Major in turn passed the estate to Douglas and David ten years later. Douglas Gresham acknowledged in a 15 November 2005 interview on
NPRNPR, formerly National Public Radio, is a privately and publicly funded non-profit membership media organization that serves as a national syndicator to a network of 900 public radio stations in the United States. NPR was created in 1970, following congressional passage of the Public Broadcasting...
that he and his brother are estranged, although in a 4 December 2005 interview he did say that they are in email contact. Douglas Gresham is a
ChristianA Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...
, as were Lewis and his mother, while David returned to the
Orthodox JudaismOrthodox Judaism , is the approach to Judaism which adheres to the traditional interpretation and application of the laws and ethics of the Torah as legislated in the Talmudic texts by the Sanhedrin and subsequently developed and applied by the later authorities known as the Gaonim, Rishonim, and...
of their mother's family while still a child in Lewis's home. Lewis made an effort to find kosher food for him.
Career
Gresham hosted
Focus on the FamilyFocus on the Family is an American evangelical Christian tax-exempt non-profit organization founded in 1977 by psychologist James Dobson, and is based in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Focus on the Family is one of a number of evangelical parachurch organizations that rose to prominence in the 1980s...
's radio adaptations of his stepfather's most famous works, and his interest in media versions thereof was later shown again when he was named co-
producerA film producer oversees and delivers a film project to all relevant parties while preserving the integrity, voice and vision of the film. They will also often take on some financial risk by using their own money, especially during the pre-production period, before a film is fully financed.The...
for the
series of theatrical films adaptationsThe Chronicles of Narnia is a series of English fantasy films from Walden Media that are based on The Chronicles of Narnia, a series of novels written by C. S. Lewis...
of
The Chronicles of NarniaThe Chronicles of Narnia is a series of seven fantasy novels for children by C. S. Lewis. It is considered a classic of children's literature and is the author's best-known work, having sold over 100 million copies in 47 languages...
and
The Screwtape Letters; he also made a cameo in the first installment as a radio newscaster, the second as a "Telmarine crier" and the third as a slaver.
Biography
He has also written an
autobiographyAn autobiography is a book about the life of a person, written by that person.-Origin of the term:...
entitled
Lenten Lands which chronicles his life from birth to the age of 28 in 1973.
A fictionalized young Douglas Gresham is a
characterA character is the representation of a person in a narrative work of art . Derived from the ancient Greek word kharaktêr , the earliest use in English, in this sense, dates from the Restoration, although it became widely used after its appearance in Tom Jones in 1749. From this, the sense of...
in the 1993 film
ShadowlandsShadowlands is a 1985 television film, written by William Nicholson, directed by Norman Stone and produced by David M. Thompson for BBC Wales. Its subject is the relationship between Oxford don and author, C. S. Lewis and Joy Gresham....
, in part derived from
Lenten Lands. In the film, Gresham is played by
AmericanThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
actorAn actor is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...
Joseph MazzelloJoseph Francis Mazzello III is an American actor who is best known for his roles as Tim Murphy in Jurassic Park, Eugene Sledge in the HBO miniseries The Pacific, and Dustin Moskovitz in The Social Network....
. There is no character derived from Douglas' brother David in the film or in the stage play on which the film was based; however, both Douglas and David were portrayed as characters in the original teleplay (1985) on which the stage play was based.
Further sources
External links