Jack Finney
Encyclopedia
Jack Finney was an American author. His best-known works are science fiction
and thrillers, including The Body Snatchers
and Time and Again
. The former was the basis for the 1956
movie Invasion of the Body Snatchers and its remakes.
in Galesburg, Illinois
, graduating in 1934. He married Marguerite Guest and they had two children, Kenneth and Marguerite. After living in New York City
and working for an advertising agency
there, he moved with his family to California
in the early 1950s. He lived in Mill Valley, California
, and died of pneumonia
and emphysema
in Greenbrae, California
.
in 1946. His first novel, 5 Against the House, was published in 1954. It was made into a movie the following year.
Finney's novel The Body Snatchers
(1955) was the basis for the 1956
movie Invasion of the Body Snatchers
(and its remakes). It tells the story of aliens who invade Earth by emerging from pods and taking over the bodies of humans.
Another novel, Assault on a Queen
(1959), became a film with Frank Sinatra
as the leader of a gang that pulls a daring robbery of the RMS Queen Mary
.
Finney's greatest success came with his science fiction novel Time and Again
(1970). Its protagonist, Simon Morley, is working in advertising in New York City when he is recruited for a secret government project trying to achieve time travel
. Instead of using a physical machine, the participants steep themselves in the history and culture of a particular time and place, then travel there through hypnosis
or self-hypnosis
. Morley travels to the New York City of 1882. The novel is notable for Finney's vivid and detailed picture of life in the city at that time. Morley sees many actual historical sites, some now gone (e.g., the post office that, until 1939, stood in what is now the southern tip of City Hall Park) and some still existing (e.g., St. Patrick's Cathedral
, then the tallest building in its Fifth Avenue neighborhood).
In 1987, Finney was given the World Fantasy Award
for Life Achievement at the World Fantasy Convention
, held in Nashville, Tennessee
.
Finney's story "Such Interesting Neighbors" (Collier's, 06 January 1951) was the basis for the second episode of Science Fiction Theater and entitled "Time Is Just a Place." It was first broadcast on 16 April 1955 and co-starred Dan DeFore and Warren Stevens. Later, the story appeared as an episode of the Steven Spielberg
-created anthology series Amazing Stories
and starred Adam Ant
and Marcia Strassman
. Speilberg's version was first broadcast on 20 March 1987.
In 1995, twenty-five years after Time and Again, Finney published a well-received sequel called From Time to Time
featuring the further adventures of Morley, this time centering on Manhattan
in 1912. Finney died at the age of 84 not long after finishing the book.
The 1998
television movie
The Love Letter
, starring Campbell Scott
and Jennifer Jason Leigh
, is based on Finney's short story of the same name, which appeared in The Saturday Evening Post
(1959).
The Third Level, Knox College's science fiction and fantasy publication, is named for Finney's short story and collection.
A 1980 film, Somewhere in Time
, was based on the novel Bid Time Return
, by Richard Matheson
, but used the same time travel technique described by Finney in Time and Again
and About Time. The college professor who describes this time travel technique is also named Finney after the author.
Science fiction
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...
and thrillers, including The Body Snatchers
The Body Snatchers
The Body Snatchers is a 1955 science fiction novel by Jack Finney, originally serialized in Colliers Magazine in 1954, which describes the fictional town of Santa Mira, California being invaded by seeds that have drifted to Earth from space...
and Time and Again
Time and Again (novel)
Time and Again is a 1970 illustrated novel by Jack Finney. The many illustrations in the book are real, though, as explained in an endnote, not all are from the 1882 period in which the actions of the book take place. It had long been rumored that Robert Redford would convert the book into a movie...
. The former was the basis for the 1956
1956 in film
The year 1956 in film involved some significant events.-Events:* October 5 - The Ten Commandments opens in cinemas and becomes one of the most successful and popular movies of all time, currently ranking 5th on the list of all time moneymakers * February 5 - First showing of documentary films by...
movie Invasion of the Body Snatchers and its remakes.
Biography
Finney was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin and given the name John Finney. After his father died when he was three years old, he was renamed Walter Braden Finney in honor of his father, but continued to be known as "Jack" throughout his life. He attended Knox CollegeKnox College, Illinois
Knox College is a four-year coeducational private liberal arts college located in Galesburg, Illinois. Knox is classified as a more selective institution by The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching and is ranked 75th among liberal arts colleges by the 2011 edition of America's Best...
in Galesburg, Illinois
Galesburg, Illinois
Galesburg is a city in Knox County, Illinois, in the United States. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 32,195. It is the county seat of Knox County....
, graduating in 1934. He married Marguerite Guest and they had two children, Kenneth and Marguerite. After living 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...
and working for an advertising agency
Advertising agency
An advertising agency or ad agency is a service business dedicated to creating, planning and handling advertising for its clients. An ad agency is independent from the client and provides an outside point of view to the effort of selling the client's products or services...
there, he moved with his family to California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
in the early 1950s. He lived in Mill Valley, California
Mill Valley, California
Mill Valley is a city in Marin County, California, United States located about north of San Francisco via the Golden Gate Bridge. The population was 13,903 at the 2010 census.Mill Valley is located on the western and northern shores of Richardson Bay...
, and died of pneumonia
Pneumonia
Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung—especially affecting the microscopic air sacs —associated with fever, chest symptoms, and a lack of air space on a chest X-ray. Pneumonia is typically caused by an infection but there are a number of other causes...
and emphysema
Emphysema
Emphysema is a long-term, progressive disease of the lungs that primarily causes shortness of breath. In people with emphysema, the tissues necessary to support the physical shape and function of the lungs are destroyed. It is included in a group of diseases called chronic obstructive pulmonary...
in Greenbrae, California
Greenbrae, California
Greenbrae is a small community in Marin County, California. It is located south-southeast of downtown San Rafael, at an elevation of 33 feet , located adjacent to U.S. Route 101 at the opening of the Ross Valley. Part of Greenbrae is an unincorporated community of the county while the remaining...
.
Writing career
Finney's first short story, "The Widow's Walk", won a contest sponsored by Ellery Queen's Mystery MagazineEllery Queen's Mystery Magazine
Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine is an American monthly digest size fiction magazine specializing in crime fiction, particularly detective fiction...
in 1946. His first novel, 5 Against the House, was published in 1954. It was made into a movie the following year.
Finney's novel The Body Snatchers
The Body Snatchers
The Body Snatchers is a 1955 science fiction novel by Jack Finney, originally serialized in Colliers Magazine in 1954, which describes the fictional town of Santa Mira, California being invaded by seeds that have drifted to Earth from space...
(1955) was the basis for the 1956
1956 in film
The year 1956 in film involved some significant events.-Events:* October 5 - The Ten Commandments opens in cinemas and becomes one of the most successful and popular movies of all time, currently ranking 5th on the list of all time moneymakers * February 5 - First showing of documentary films by...
movie Invasion of the Body Snatchers
Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956 film)
Invasion of the Body Snatchers is a 1956 US-American science fiction film directed by Don Siegel, starring Kevin McCarthy and Dana Wynter. Daniel Mainwaring adapted the screenplay from Jack Finney's novel The Body Snatchers...
(and its remakes). It tells the story of aliens who invade Earth by emerging from pods and taking over the bodies of humans.
Another novel, Assault on a Queen
Assault on a Queen
Assault on a Queen is a 1966 American action-adventure film, directed by Jack Donohue, starring Frank Sinatra and Italian beauty Virna Lisi. Based on a 1959 novel by Jack Finney, it was adapted for the screen by Rod Serling and released by Paramount Pictures on June 15, 1966.-Plot summary:A World...
(1959), became a film with Frank Sinatra
Frank Sinatra
Francis Albert "Frank" Sinatra was an American singer and actor.Beginning his musical career in the swing era with Harry James and Tommy Dorsey, Sinatra became an unprecedentedly successful solo artist in the early to mid-1940s, after being signed to Columbia Records in 1943. Being the idol of the...
as the leader of a gang that pulls a daring robbery of the RMS Queen Mary
RMS Queen Mary
RMS Queen Mary is a retired ocean liner that sailed primarily in the North Atlantic Ocean from 1936 to 1967 for the Cunard Line...
.
Finney's greatest success came with his science fiction novel Time and Again
Time and Again (novel)
Time and Again is a 1970 illustrated novel by Jack Finney. The many illustrations in the book are real, though, as explained in an endnote, not all are from the 1882 period in which the actions of the book take place. It had long been rumored that Robert Redford would convert the book into a movie...
(1970). Its protagonist, Simon Morley, is working in advertising in New York City when he is recruited for a secret government project trying to achieve time travel
Time travel
Time travel is the concept of moving between different points in time in a manner analogous to moving between different points in space. Time travel could hypothetically involve moving backward in time to a moment earlier than the starting point, or forward to the future of that point without the...
. Instead of using a physical machine, the participants steep themselves in the history and culture of a particular time and place, then travel there through hypnosis
Hypnosis
Hypnosis is "a trance state characterized by extreme suggestibility, relaxation and heightened imagination."It is a mental state or imaginative role-enactment . It is usually induced by a procedure known as a hypnotic induction, which is commonly composed of a long series of preliminary...
or self-hypnosis
Self-hypnosis
Self-hypnosis is a form of hypnosis which is self-induced, and normally makes use of self-suggestion . Listening to pre-recorded audio or other media is often mistaken for self-hypnosis, but is just another form of hypnosis....
. Morley travels to the New York City of 1882. The novel is notable for Finney's vivid and detailed picture of life in the city at that time. Morley sees many actual historical sites, some now gone (e.g., the post office that, until 1939, stood in what is now the southern tip of City Hall Park) and some still existing (e.g., St. Patrick's Cathedral
St. Patrick's Cathedral, New York
The Cathedral of St. Patrick is a decorated Neo-Gothic-style Roman Catholic cathedral church in the United States...
, then the tallest building in its Fifth Avenue neighborhood).
In 1987, Finney was given the World Fantasy Award
World Fantasy Award
The World Fantasy Awards are annual, international awards given to authors and artists who have demonstrated outstanding achievement in the field of fantasy...
for Life Achievement at the World Fantasy Convention
World Fantasy Convention
The World Fantasy Convention is an annual convention of professionals, collectors, and others interested in the field of fantasy. It places emphasis on literature and art, while de-emphasizing dramatic presentation, gaming, masquerade, and the like. The World Fantasy Awards are presented at the...
, held in Nashville, Tennessee
Nashville, Tennessee
Nashville is the capital of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the county seat of Davidson County. It is located on the Cumberland River in Davidson County, in the north-central part of the state. The city is a center for the health care, publishing, banking and transportation industries, and is home...
.
Finney's story "Such Interesting Neighbors" (Collier's, 06 January 1951) was the basis for the second episode of Science Fiction Theater and entitled "Time Is Just a Place." It was first broadcast on 16 April 1955 and co-starred Dan DeFore and Warren Stevens. Later, the story appeared as an episode of the Steven Spielberg
Steven Spielberg
Steven Allan Spielberg KBE is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, video game designer, and studio entrepreneur. In a career of more than four decades, Spielberg's films have covered many themes and genres. Spielberg's early science-fiction and adventure films were seen as an...
-created anthology series Amazing Stories
Amazing Stories (TV series)
Amazing Stories is a fantasy, horror, and science fiction television anthology series created by Steven Spielberg. It ran on NBC from 1985 to 1987, and was somewhat erratically screened in Britain by BBC1 and BBC2 - billed in the Radio Times as "Steven Spielberg's Amazing Stories" - with episodes...
and starred Adam Ant
Adam Ant
Adam Ant is an English musician who gained popularity as the lead singer of New Wave/post-punk group Adam and the Ants and later as a solo artist, scoring ten UK top ten hits between 1980 and 1983, including three No.1s...
and Marcia Strassman
Marcia Strassman
Marcia A. Strassman is an American actress best known for her roles as Julie Kotter in the TV sitcom Welcome Back, Kotter and Diane Szalinski in the 1989 feature film Honey, I Shrunk the Kids, its first sequel Honey, I Blew Up the Kid and the 3-D film spin-off Honey, I Shrunk the Audience! which...
. Speilberg's version was first broadcast on 20 March 1987.
In 1995, twenty-five years after Time and Again, Finney published a well-received sequel called From Time to Time
From Time to Time (novel)
From Time to Time is a 1995 illustrated novel by Jack Finney, the sequel to Time and Again, which tells the story of how Simon Morley, working on a secret government project in 1970, was able to travel back in time to the New York City of 1882....
featuring the further adventures of Morley, this time centering on Manhattan
Manhattan
Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...
in 1912. Finney died at the age of 84 not long after finishing the book.
The 1998
1998 in film
-Events:* February 14 - Sharon Stone marries Phil Bronstein.* Former child star Gary Coleman is charged with assaulting a young female bus driver at a California shopping mall.-Top grossing films:...
television movie
Television movie
A television film is a feature film that is a television program produced for and originally distributed by a television network, in contrast to...
The Love Letter
The Love Letter (1998 film)
The Love Letter is a 1998 Hallmark Hall of Fame television film starring Campbell Scott and Jennifer Jason Leigh. It is based on Jack Finney's short story of the same name, which was first published in The Saturday Evening Post on August 1, 1959, and reprinted in the same magazine in...
, starring Campbell Scott
Campbell Scott
Campbell Scott is an American actor, director, producer, and voice artist.-Life and career:Scott was born in New York City, the son of George C. Scott, an actor, director, and producer, and Colleen Dewhurst, a Canadian-born actress. He graduated from Lawrence University in 1983. His brother is...
and Jennifer Jason Leigh
Jennifer Jason Leigh
Jennifer Jason Leigh is an American film and stage actress, best known for her roles in Fast Times at Ridgemont High, Single White Female, Last Exit to Brooklyn, Georgia and Short Cuts...
, is based on Finney's short story of the same name, which appeared in The Saturday Evening Post
The Saturday Evening Post
The Saturday Evening Post is a bimonthly American magazine. It was published weekly under this title from 1897 until 1969, and quarterly and then bimonthly from 1971.-History:...
(1959).
The Third Level, Knox College's science fiction and fantasy publication, is named for Finney's short story and collection.
Works
- "Someone Who Knows Told Me …", Cosmopolitan (Non-Fiction) (December, 1943)
- "The Widow's Walk", Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine (July, 1947)
- "Breakfast in Bed", Collier's (May, 1948)
- "The Little Courtesies", Collier's (June, 1949)
- "A Dash of Spring", Cosmopolitan (June, 1949)
- "I Like It This Way", Collier's (June, 1950)
- "My Cigarette Loves Your Cigarette", Collier's (September, 1950)
- "Such Interesting Neighbors", Collier's (January, 1951)
- "One Man Show", Collier's (June, 1951)
- "I'm Scared", Collier's (September, 1951)
- "It Wouldn't be Fair", Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine (November, 1951)
- "Obituary" (co-written with C.J. Durban), Collier's (February, 1952)
- "Quit Zoomin' Those Hands Through the Air", The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction (December, 1952)
- 5 Against the House (Novel) (1954)
- "Of Missing PersonsOf Missing PersonsOf Missing Persons is a 1955 science fiction short story by Jack Finney, which describes a burned-out bank teller named Charley Ewell living in 1955 New York City who receives a chance to emigrate from Earth to Verna, a lush, earthlike planet light-years away.-Plot summary:The story is framed as a...
" (1955) - The Body SnatchersThe Body SnatchersThe Body Snatchers is a 1955 science fiction novel by Jack Finney, originally serialized in Colliers Magazine in 1954, which describes the fictional town of Santa Mira, California being invaded by seeds that have drifted to Earth from space...
(Novel) (1955) - "Man of Confidence", Good Housekeeping (September, 1955)
- "Second Chance", Good Housekeeping (April, 1956)
- Telephone Roulette: A Comedy in One Act (1956)
- "Contents of the Dead Man's Pocket", Good Housekeeping (June, 1956)
- The House of Numbers (1957)
- The Third Level (1957) (short story collection), in England as The Clock of Time (1958)
- Assault on a Queen (Novel) (1959)
- "The Love Letter", Saturday Evening Post (August 1, 1959) [Also re-published in January/February 1988 issue of Saturday Evening Post]
- "The U-19’s Last Kill", Saturday Evening Post (six-part series, beginning August 22, 1959 and ending September 26, 1959)
- "The Other Wife" (aka The Coin Collector), Saturday Evening Post (January 30, 1960)
- "An Old Tune" (aka Home Alone), McCall's (October, 1961)
- "Old Enough for Love", McCall's (May, 1962)
- "The Sunny Side of the Street", McCall's (October, 1962)
- Hey, Look at Me! (1962)
- Lunch Hour Magic (1962)
- "Time Has No Boundaries" (aka The Face in the Photo), Saturday Evening Post (October 13, 1962)
- Where the Cluetts Are (1962)
- Good Neighbor Sam (1963)
- I Love Galesburg in the Springtime (1963) (short story collection)
- This Winter's Hobby: A Play (1966)
- The Woodrow Wilson Dime (1968)
- Time and AgainTime and Again (novel)Time and Again is a 1970 illustrated novel by Jack Finney. The many illustrations in the book are real, though, as explained in an endnote, not all are from the 1882 period in which the actions of the book take place. It had long been rumored that Robert Redford would convert the book into a movie...
(Novel) (1970) - Marion's Wall (1973)
- The Night People (1977)
- Forgotten News: The Crime of the Century and Other Lost Stories (1983) (Nonfiction)
- About Time (1986) (short story collection)
- Three by Finney (1987) (an omnibus edition of The Woodrow Wilson Dime, Marion's Wall, and The Night People)
- From Time to TimeFrom Time to Time (novel)From Time to Time is a 1995 illustrated novel by Jack Finney, the sequel to Time and Again, which tells the story of how Simon Morley, working on a secret government project in 1970, was able to travel back in time to the New York City of 1882....
(Novel) (1995)
Films based on Finney's novels and stories
- 5 Against the House (1955 Phil KarlsonPhil KarlsonPhil Karlson was a film director known for his no-nonsense film noirs. Karlson directed 99 River Street, Kansas City Confidential and Hell's Island all with actor John Payne in the early 1950s...
film starring Guy MadisonGuy MadisonGuy Madison was an American film and television actor.-Early life:Born Robert Ozell Moseley in Pumpkin Center, California, Madison attended Bakersfield College, a junior college, for two years and then worked briefly as a telephone lineman before joining the United States Coast Guard in...
, Kim NovakKim NovakKim Novak is an American film and television actress. She began her career with her roles in Pushover and Phffft! but achieved greater prominence in the 1955 film Picnic...
, and Brian KeithBrian KeithBrian Keith was an American film, television, and stage actor who in his four decade-long career gained recognition for his work in movies such as the 1961 Disney family film The Parent Trap, the 1966 comedy The Russians Are Coming, the Russians Are Coming, and the 1975 adventure saga The Wind and...
) - Assault on a QueenAssault on a QueenAssault on a Queen is a 1966 American action-adventure film, directed by Jack Donohue, starring Frank Sinatra and Italian beauty Virna Lisi. Based on a 1959 novel by Jack Finney, it was adapted for the screen by Rod Serling and released by Paramount Pictures on June 15, 1966.-Plot summary:A World...
(1966 Jack Donohue film based on The U-19's Last Kill starring Frank SinatraFrank SinatraFrancis Albert "Frank" Sinatra was an American singer and actor.Beginning his musical career in the swing era with Harry James and Tommy Dorsey, Sinatra became an unprecedentedly successful solo artist in the early to mid-1940s, after being signed to Columbia Records in 1943. Being the idol of the...
, Virna LisiVirna LisiVirna Lisi is a Cannes and César award-winning Italian film actress. She was born in Ancona, Marche, as Virna Lisa Pieralisi.-Early career:...
, and Anthony FranciosaAnthony FranciosaAnthony Franciosa was an American actor, usually billed as Tony Franciosa during the height of his career.-Early life:...
) - Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956)
- The House of Numbers (1957 Russell Rouse film noir starring Jack PalanceJack PalanceJack Palance , was an American actor. During half a century of film and television appearances, Palance was nominated for three Academy Awards, all as Best Actor in a Supporting Role, winning in 1991 for his role in City Slickers.-Early life:Palance, one of five children, was born Volodymyr...
) - Good Neighbor SamGood Neighbor SamGood Neighbor Sam is a 1964 American comedy movie co-written and directed by David Swift and starring Jack Lemmon and Romy Schneider.It was based on the novel by Jack Finney. The screenplay was the motion picture debut of James Fritzell and Everett Greenbaum, who had written many American...
(1964 David Swift film starring Jack LemmonJack LemmonJohn Uhler "Jack" Lemmon III was an American actor and musician. He starred in more than 60 films including Some Like It Hot, The Apartment, Mister Roberts , Days of Wine and Roses, The Great Race, Irma la Douce, The Odd Couple, Save the Tiger John Uhler "Jack" Lemmon III (February 8, 1925June...
, Romy SchneiderRomy SchneiderRomy Schneider was an Austrian-born German film actress who also held French citizenship.-Early life:Schneider was born Rosemarie Magdalena Albach in Nazi-era Vienna, six months after the Anschluss, into a family of actors that included her paternal grandmother Rosa Albach-Retty, her Austrian...
, and Dorothy ProvineDorothy ProvineDorothy Michelle Provine was an American singer, dancer, actress, and comedienne.-Career:Provine was born in Deadwood, South Dakota, to Virgil and Kathleen Provine. She attended the University of Washington, where she majored in drama. In Washington she handed out prizes for a local television...
) - Invasion of the Body SnatchersInvasion of the Body Snatchers (1978 film)Invasion of the Body Snatchers is a 1978 science fiction film based on the novel The Body Snatchers by Jack Finney. It is a remake of the 1956 film of the same name. It was directed by Philip Kaufman and starred Donald Sutherland, Brooke Adams and Leonard Nimoy.A San Francisco health inspector and...
(1978 remake) - Maxie (1985 Paul Aaron film starring Glenn CloseGlenn CloseGlenn Close is an American actress and singer of theatre and film, known for her roles as a femme fatale Glenn Close (born March 19, 1947) is an American actress and singer of theatre and film, known for her roles as a femme fatale Glenn Close (born March 19, 1947) is an American actress and...
, Mandy PatinkinMandy PatinkinMandel Bruce "Mandy" Patinkin is an award-winning American actor of stage and screen and a tenor vocalist. He is a noted interpreter of the musical works of Stephen Sondheim, and is best-known for his work in musical theatre, originating iconic roles such as Georges Seurat in Sunday in the Park...
, and Ruth GordonRuth GordonRuth Gordon Jones , better known as Ruth Gordon, was an American actress and writer. She was perhaps best known for her film roles such as Minnie Castevet, Rosemary's overly solicitous neighbor in Rosemary's Baby, as the eccentric Maude in Harold and Maude and as the mother of Orville Boggs in the...
; based on Marion's Wall) - Body Snatchers (1993 remake of Invasion of the Body Snatchers)
- The Love LetterThe Love Letter (1998 film)The Love Letter is a 1998 Hallmark Hall of Fame television film starring Campbell Scott and Jennifer Jason Leigh. It is based on Jack Finney's short story of the same name, which was first published in The Saturday Evening Post on August 1, 1959, and reprinted in the same magazine in...
(1998 Dan CurtisDan CurtisDan Curtis was an American director and producer of television and film, probably best known for his miniseries The Winds of War and War and Remembrance, his afternoon TV series Dark Shadows, and the made for TV movie, . Dark Shadows originally aired from 1966 to 1971 and has aired in syndication...
TV movie starring Campbell ScottCampbell ScottCampbell Scott is an American actor, director, producer, and voice artist.-Life and career:Scott was born in New York City, the son of George C. Scott, an actor, director, and producer, and Colleen Dewhurst, a Canadian-born actress. He graduated from Lawrence University in 1983. His brother is...
, Jennifer Jason LeighJennifer Jason LeighJennifer Jason Leigh is an American film and stage actress, best known for her roles in Fast Times at Ridgemont High, Single White Female, Last Exit to Brooklyn, Georgia and Short Cuts...
, David DukesDavid DukesDavid Coleman Dukes was an American character actor.-Life:Dukes was born in San Francisco, California, the son of a highway patrolman...
, and Estelle ParsonsEstelle ParsonsEstelle Margaret Parsons is an American theatre, film and television actress and occasional theatrical director.After studying law, Parsons became a singer before deciding to pursue a career in acting. She worked for the television program Today and made her stage debut in 1961...
; based on the story of the same name) - The InvasionThe Invasion (film)The Invasion is a 2007 science fiction thriller film starring Nicole Kidman and Daniel Craig, directed by Oliver Hirschbiegel, with additional scenes written by the Wachowski brothers and directed by James McTeigue....
(2007 remake of Invasion of the Body Snatchers)
A 1980 film, Somewhere in Time
Somewhere in Time (film)
Somewhere in Time is a 1980 romantic science fiction film directed by Jeannot Szwarc. It is a film adaptation of the 1975 novel Bid Time Return by Richard Matheson, who also wrote the screenplay...
, was based on the novel Bid Time Return
Bid Time Return
Bid Time Return is a 1975 science fiction novel by Richard Matheson. It concerns a man from the 1970s who travels back in time to court a 19th century stage actress whose photograph has captivated him...
, by Richard Matheson
Richard Matheson
Richard Burton Matheson is an American author and screenwriter, primarily in the fantasy, horror, and science fiction genres. He is perhaps best known as the author of What Dreams May Come, Bid Time Return, A Stir of Echoes, The Incredible Shrinking Man, and I Am Legend, all of which have been...
, but used the same time travel technique described by Finney in Time and Again
Time and Again (novel)
Time and Again is a 1970 illustrated novel by Jack Finney. The many illustrations in the book are real, though, as explained in an endnote, not all are from the 1882 period in which the actions of the book take place. It had long been rumored that Robert Redford would convert the book into a movie...
and About Time. The college professor who describes this time travel technique is also named Finney after the author.
External links
Obituary.- Obituaries from Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, San Francisco Examiner, Dayton Daily News, and The New York Times Academic journal article on time-slip in science fiction, with special reference to Time and Again and The Love Letter. An appreciation of Jack Finney on the 100th anniversary of his birth.