Harold Robbins
Encyclopedia
Harold Robbins was one of the best-selling American
author
s of all time. During his career, he wrote over 25 best-sellers, selling over 750 million copies in 32 languages.
Born as Harold Rubin in New York City
, he later claimed to be a Jewish orphan who had been raised in a Catholic boys home. In reality he was the son of well-educated Russian and Polish immigrants. He was reared by his pharmacist
father and stepmother in Brooklyn
. His first wife was his high school sweetheart
The Dream Merchants
(1949) was a novel about the American film industry, from its beginning to the sound era. Again Robbins blended his own experiences, historical
facts, melodrama
, sex
, and action 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
.
He would become arguably the world's bestselling author, publishing over 20 books which were translated into 32 languages and sold over 750 million copies. Among his best-known books is The Carpetbaggers
-- loosely based on a composite of Howard Hughes
, Bill Lear
, Harry Cohn
, and Louis B. Mayer
--
taking 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.
s and based on Robbins's own notes and unfinished stories. On the last couple of books, Junius Podrug
has been credited as cowriter. His often profane style was referred to in the film Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home
, where Kirk cites his work to explain how people in the 20th century talk.
On Fawlty Towers
, Basil Fawlty
pours scorn onto his wife Sybil
's preference for Robbins' work, describing it as "pornographic Muzak
" (as well as "Transatlantic
tripe
").
From the Hodder & Stoughton 2008 edition of The Carpetbaggers: About the author:
Robbins was the playboy of his day and a master of publicity. He was a renowned novelist but tales of his own life contain even more fiction than his books. What is known is that with reported worldwide sales of 750m, Harold Robbins sold more books than J.K. Rowling, earned and spent $50m during his lifetime, and was as much a part of the sexual and social revolution as the pill, Playboy and pot. In March 1965, he had three novels on the British paperback bestseller list - Where Love Has Gone at No.1, The Carpetbaggers at No.3 and The Dream Merchants in the sixth spot.
At the height of his success, Robbins had a mansion in Beverly Hills, a home in the south of France and a house in Acapulco. He owned a fleet of fourteen cars, including a white Rolls-Royce and a number of Jensens, an exquisite art collection (Picasso, Chagall, Legér, Bernard Buffet) and two yachts, one moored in Los Angeles, the other in Cannes.
In 1984, he fell while having a seizure caused from a head contusion, in the process of which he shattered his hip.
Since his passing, his books have continued to sell all over the world. His widow, Jann Robbins, has republished 12 of his most famous titles with AuthorHouse Publishing.
He spent a great deal of time on the French Riviera
and Monte Carlo
until his death on October 14, 1997 from respiratory heart failure at the age of 81 in Palm Springs, California
.
He is buried at Forest Lawn Cemetery (Cathedral City)
near Palm Springs, California
.
Harold Robbins has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame
at 6743 Hollywood Boulevard.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
author
Author
An author is broadly defined as "the person who originates or gives existence to anything" and that authorship determines responsibility for what is created. Narrowly defined, an author is the originator of any written work.-Legal significance:...
s of all time. During his career, he wrote over 25 best-sellers, selling over 750 million copies in 32 languages.
Born as Harold Rubin in New York City
New York City
New 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...
, he later claimed to be a Jewish orphan who had been raised in a Catholic boys home. In reality he was the son of well-educated Russian and Polish immigrants. He was reared by his pharmacist
Pharmacist
Pharmacists are allied health professionals who practice in pharmacy, the field of health sciences focusing on safe and effective medication use...
father and stepmother in Brooklyn
Brooklyn
Brooklyn is the most populous of New York City's five boroughs, with nearly 2.6 million residents, and the second-largest in area. Since 1896, Brooklyn has had the same boundaries as Kings County, which is now the most populous county in New York State and the second-most densely populated...
. His first wife was his high school sweetheart
Work
His first book, Never Love a Stranger (1948), caused controversy with its graphic sexuality.The Dream Merchants
The Dream Merchants
The Dream Merchants is an American novel written by Harold Robbins and published in 1949. Set in the early 20th century, the book is a "rags-to-riches" story of a penniless young man who goes to Hollywood and builds a great film studio. A former Universal Studios employee, author Harold Robbins...
(1949) was a novel about the American film industry, from its beginning to the sound era. Again Robbins blended his own experiences, historical
History
History is the discovery, collection, organization, and presentation of information about past events. History can also mean the period of time after writing was invented. Scholars who write about history are called historians...
facts, melodrama
Melodrama
The term melodrama refers to a dramatic work that exaggerates plot and characters in order to appeal to the emotions. It may also refer to the genre which includes such works, or to language, behavior, or events which resemble them...
, sex
Sex
In biology, sex is a process of combining and mixing genetic traits, often resulting in the specialization of organisms into a male or female variety . Sexual reproduction involves combining specialized cells to form offspring that inherit traits from both parents...
, and action into a fast-moving story.
His 1952 novel, A Stone for Danny Fisher
A Stone for Danny Fisher
A Stone For Danny Fisher is a very serious, early novel by Harold Robbins that looks at the effect of the Great Depression on a lower-middle class Jewish family. Written in 1952 it is actually set in the period up to 1944.-Plot summary:...
, was adapted into a 1958 motion picture King Creole
King Creole
King Creole is a 1958 American film directed by Michael Curtiz and produced by Hal B. Wallis. The story was adapted from the Harold Robbins novel A Stone for Danny Fisher and featured Elvis Presley, Carolyn Jones, and Walter Matthau. The film tells the story of a nineteen-year-old who gets mixed...
, which starred Elvis Presley
Elvis Presley
Elvis Aaron Presley was one of the most popular American singers of the 20th century. A cultural icon, he is widely known by the single name Elvis. He is often referred to as the "King of Rock and Roll" or simply "the King"....
.
He would become arguably the world's bestselling author, publishing over 20 books which were translated into 32 languages and sold over 750 million copies. Among his best-known books is The Carpetbaggers
The Carpetbaggers
The Carpetbaggers is the title of a 1961 bestselling novel by Harold Robbins, which was adapted into a 1964 film of the same title.The term "carpetbagger" refers to an outsider relocating to exploit locals . It derives from post-bellum South usage, where it referred specifically to opportunistic...
-- loosely based on a composite of Howard Hughes
Howard Hughes
Howard Robard Hughes, Jr. was an American business magnate, investor, aviator, engineer, film producer, director, and philanthropist. He was one of the wealthiest people in the world...
, Bill Lear
Bill Lear
William Powell Lear was an American inventor and businessman. He is best known for founding the Lear Jet Corporation, a manufacturer of business jets...
, Harry Cohn
Harry Cohn
Harry Cohn was the American president and production director of Columbia Pictures.-Career:Cohn was born to a working-class German-Jewish family in New York City. In later years, he appears to have disparaged his heritage...
, and Louis B. Mayer
Louis B. Mayer
Louis Burt Mayer born Lazar Meir was an American film producer. He is generally cited as the creator of the "star system" within Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in its golden years. Known always as Louis B...
--
taking 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.
Posthumous
Since his death, several new books have been published, written by ghostwriterGhostwriter
A ghostwriter is a professional writer who is paid to write books, articles, stories, reports, or other texts that are officially credited to another person. Celebrities, executives, and political leaders often hire ghostwriters to draft or edit autobiographies, magazine articles, or other written...
s and based on Robbins's own notes and unfinished stories. On the last couple of books, Junius Podrug
Junius Podrug
Junius Podrug is an American author and attorney. He was a defense attorney on the Chippendales dancers federal murder and wrongful death legal cases. His fiction and nonfiction books have been published under his own and three other names. His works have been translated into sixteen languages...
has been credited as cowriter. His often profane style was referred to in the film Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home
Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home
Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home is a 1986 American science fiction film released by Paramount Pictures. It is the fourth feature film based on the Star Trek science fiction television series and completes the story arc begun in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan and continued in Star Trek III: The...
, where Kirk cites his work to explain how people in the 20th century talk.
On Fawlty Towers
Fawlty Towers
Fawlty Towers is a British sitcom produced by BBC Television and first broadcast on BBC2 in 1975. Twelve television program episodes were produced . The show was written by John Cleese and his then wife Connie Booth, both of whom played major characters...
, Basil Fawlty
Basil Fawlty
Basil Fawlty is the main character of the British sitcom Fawlty Towers, played by John Cleese. The character is often thought of as an iconic British comedy character, and has been deemed unforgettable despite only a dozen half-hour episodes ever being made....
pours scorn onto his wife Sybil
Sybil Fawlty
Sybil Fawlty is a fictional character from the BBC sitcom Fawlty Towers. She is played by Prunella Scales. Her age is listed as 34 years old as seen on her medical chart in the 1975 episode "The Germans", thus presumably indicating that she was born in 1941...
's preference for Robbins' work, describing it as "pornographic Muzak
Muzak
Muzak Holdings LLC is a company based in metro Fort Mill, South Carolina, United States, just outside of Charlotte, North Carolina. Founded in 1934, Muzak Holdings is best known for distribution of background music to retail stores and other companies....
" (as well as "Transatlantic
Transatlantic
Transatlantic crossings are passages of passengers and cargo across the Atlantic Ocean between the Americas and Europe. Prior to the 19th century, transatlantic crossings were undertaken in sailing ships, which was a time consuming and often perilous journey. Transatlantic crossings became faster,...
tripe
Tripe
Tripe is a type of edible offal from the stomachs of various farm animals.-Beef tripe:...
").
From the Hodder & Stoughton 2008 edition of The Carpetbaggers: About the author:
Robbins was the playboy of his day and a master of publicity. He was a renowned novelist but tales of his own life contain even more fiction than his books. What is known is that with reported worldwide sales of 750m, Harold Robbins sold more books than J.K. Rowling, earned and spent $50m during his lifetime, and was as much a part of the sexual and social revolution as the pill, Playboy and pot. In March 1965, he had three novels on the British paperback bestseller list - Where Love Has Gone at No.1, The Carpetbaggers at No.3 and The Dream Merchants in the sixth spot.
At the height of his success, Robbins had a mansion in Beverly Hills, a home in the south of France and a house in Acapulco. He owned a fleet of fourteen cars, including a white Rolls-Royce and a number of Jensens, an exquisite art collection (Picasso, Chagall, Legér, Bernard Buffet) and two yachts, one moored in Los Angeles, the other in Cannes.
In 1984, he fell while having a seizure caused from a head contusion, in the process of which he shattered his hip.
Since his passing, his books have continued to sell all over the world. His widow, Jann Robbins, has republished 12 of his most famous titles with AuthorHouse Publishing.
Personal life
Robbins was married three times.He spent a great deal of time on the French Riviera
French Riviera
The Côte d'Azur, pronounced , often known in English as the French Riviera , is the Mediterranean coastline of the southeast corner of France, also including the sovereign state of Monaco...
and Monte Carlo
Monte Carlo
Monte Carlo is an administrative area of the Principality of Monaco....
until his death on October 14, 1997 from respiratory heart failure at the age of 81 in Palm Springs, California
Palm Springs, California
Palm Springs is a desert city in Riverside County, California, within the Coachella Valley. It is located approximately 37 miles east of San Bernardino, 111 miles east of Los Angeles and 136 miles northeast of San Diego...
.
He is buried at Forest Lawn Cemetery (Cathedral City)
Forest Lawn Cemetery (Cathedral City)
Forest Lawn Cemetery , renamed from Palm Springs Mortuary & Mausoleum in 2005, is a cemetery in Cathedral City, California near Palm Springs...
near Palm Springs, California
Palm Springs, California
Palm Springs is a desert city in Riverside County, California, within the Coachella Valley. It is located approximately 37 miles east of San Bernardino, 111 miles east of Los Angeles and 136 miles northeast of San Diego...
.
Harold Robbins has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame
Hollywood Walk of Fame
The Hollywood Walk of Fame consists of more than 2,400 five-pointed terrazzo and brass stars embedded in the sidewalks along fifteen blocks of Hollywood Boulevard and three blocks of Vine Street in Hollywood, California...
at 6743 Hollywood Boulevard.
Selected bibliography
- Never Love A Stranger, 1948
- The Dream MerchantsThe Dream MerchantsThe Dream Merchants is an American novel written by Harold Robbins and published in 1949. Set in the early 20th century, the book is a "rags-to-riches" story of a penniless young man who goes to Hollywood and builds a great film studio. A former Universal Studios employee, author Harold Robbins...
, 1949 - A Stone for Danny FisherA Stone for Danny FisherA Stone For Danny Fisher is a very serious, early novel by Harold Robbins that looks at the effect of the Great Depression on a lower-middle class Jewish family. Written in 1952 it is actually set in the period up to 1944.-Plot summary:...
, 1952 - Never Leave Me, 1953
- 79 Park Avenue, 1955
- Stiletto, 1960
- The CarpetbaggersThe CarpetbaggersThe Carpetbaggers is the title of a 1961 bestselling novel by Harold Robbins, which was adapted into a 1964 film of the same title.The term "carpetbagger" refers to an outsider relocating to exploit locals . It derives from post-bellum South usage, where it referred specifically to opportunistic...
, 1961 - Where Love Has Gone, 1962
- The Adventurers, 1966; this was adapted for the cinema as The Adventurers in 1970 by Lewis GilbertLewis GilbertLewis Gilbert CBE is an English film director, producer and screenwriter.-Early life:He was the son of music hall performers, and spent his early years travelling with his parents, and watching the shows from the side of the stage. He first performed on-stage at the age of 5, when asked to drive a...
- The Inheritors, 1969
- The Betsy, 1971 (made into a film of the same nameThe BetsyThe Betsy is a 1978 film made by the Harold Robbins International Company and released by Allied Artists. It was directed by Daniel Petrie and produced by Robert R. Weston and Emanuel L. Wolf with Jack Grossberg as associate producer. The screenplay was by William Bast and Walter Bernstein, adapted...
in 1978) - The Pirate, 1974
- The Lonely LadyThe Lonely LadyThe Lonely Lady is a 1983 American film directed by Peter Sasdy and adapted to screen by Ellen Shepard from the novel written by Harold Robbins. The original music score was composed by Charlie Calello. The cast includes Pia Zadora, Lloyd Bochner, Bibi Besch, Jared Martin, and in an early film...
, 1976 - 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
- The Stallion, 1996
- Tycoon, 1997
- The Predators, 1998
- The Secret, 2000
- Never Enough, 2001
- Sin City, 2002
- Heat of Passion, 2003
- The Betrayers, (with Junius PodrugJunius PodrugJunius Podrug is an American author and attorney. He was a defense attorney on the Chippendales dancers federal murder and wrongful death legal cases. His fiction and nonfiction books have been published under his own and three other names. His works have been translated into sixteen languages...
) 2004 - Blood Royal, (with Junius PodrugJunius PodrugJunius Podrug is an American author and attorney. He was a defense attorney on the Chippendales dancers federal murder and wrongful death legal cases. His fiction and nonfiction books have been published under his own and three other names. His works have been translated into sixteen languages...
) 2005 - The Devil to Pay, (with Junius PodrugJunius PodrugJunius Podrug is an American author and attorney. He was a defense attorney on the Chippendales dancers federal murder and wrongful death legal cases. His fiction and nonfiction books have been published under his own and three other names. His works have been translated into sixteen languages...
) 2006 - The Looters, (with Junius PodrugJunius PodrugJunius Podrug is an American author and attorney. He was a defense attorney on the Chippendales dancers federal murder and wrongful death legal cases. His fiction and nonfiction books have been published under his own and three other names. His works have been translated into sixteen languages...
) 2007 - The Deceivers, (with Junius PodrugJunius PodrugJunius Podrug is an American author and attorney. He was a defense attorney on the Chippendales dancers federal murder and wrongful death legal cases. His fiction and nonfiction books have been published under his own and three other names. His works have been translated into sixteen languages...
) 2008 - The Shroud, (with Junius PodrugJunius PodrugJunius Podrug is an American author and attorney. He was a defense attorney on the Chippendales dancers federal murder and wrongful death legal cases. His fiction and nonfiction books have been published under his own and three other names. His works have been translated into sixteen languages...
) 2009 - The Curse, (with Junius PodrugJunius PodrugJunius Podrug is an American author and attorney. He was a defense attorney on the Chippendales dancers federal murder and wrongful death legal cases. His fiction and nonfiction books have been published under his own and three other names. His works have been translated into sixteen languages...
) 2011
External links
- Harold Robbins at Internet Book List http://www.iblist.com