James Thurber
Sign in to saveAlso known as James Grover Thurber
American cartoonist, author, journalist, playwright (1894–1961)
OverviewAI-generated
James Thurber was an American male writer whose professional career began in 1929. He was born on December 8, 1894, and died on November 2, 1961. His literary output includes 295 works, with notable titles such as *Prentice Hall Literature -- Platinum* and *Prentice Hall Literature--Timeless Voices, Timeless Themes--Gold Level*.
Thurber is associated with several recorded quotes, including "All right, have it your way — you heard a seal bark!" and "Well, if I called the wrong number, why did you answer the phone?" His writings have been referenced by 553 other encyclopedia articles. An official website for Thurber is maintained at thurberhouse.org.
Synthesized by Vinony from 21 facts across 7 sources: Wikidata, Last.fm, Crossref, Wikiquote, MusicBrainz, Open Library, Vinony graph. Generated from structured data (not the Wikipedia text) and checked against those facts — may still contain errors.
Key facts
- Born
- James Grover Thurber , ( 1894-12-08 ) December 8, 1894, Columbus, Ohio , U.S.
- Died
- November 2, 1961 (1961-11-02) (aged 66), Manhattan, New York , U.S.
- Occupation
- Cartoonist, writer
- Spouse
- Althea Adams ( married</span>"}]]}'>m. 1925 ; divorced</span>"}]]}'>div. 1935 ) Helen Wismer, ( married</span>"}]]}'>m. 1935 )
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- human
- Given name
- James
- Gender
- male
- Citizenship
- United States
- Place of birth
- Columbus
- Place of death
- New York City
- Occupation
- cartoonist
- Employer
- Chicago Tribune
- Languages spoken
- English language
- Official website
- www.thurberhouse.org/james-thurber
- Image
- James Thurber NYWTS.jpg
Show 14 more facts
- cause of death
- pneumonia
- Commons category
- James Thurber
- manner of death
- natural causes
- medical condition
- blindness
- date of birth
- 1894-12-18
- date of death
- 1961-11-02
- nominated for
- Nobel Prize in Literature
- archives at
- Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library
- has works in the collection
- Museum of Modern Art
- writing language
- English language
- start of work period
- 1929-00-00
- name in native language
- James Grover Thurber
- contributed to creative work
- The New Yorker
- Commons Creator page
- James Thurber
Sources (8)
via Wikidata · CC0
~40 min read
Encyclopedic overview
James Grover Thurber (December 8, 1894 – November 2, 1961) was an American cartoonist, writer, humorist, journalist, and playwright. He was born in Columbus, Ohio, and attended Ohio State University (OSU), leaving in 1918 without graduating. He spent over a year in Paris, working for the US State Department as a code clerk, and on his return to Columbus in 1920 was hired as a reporter for the Columbus Dispatch. He married his first wife, Althea Adams, in 1922. Thurber was hired by The New Yorker in early 1927, and soon became a prolific and popular contributor.
With E. B. White he wrote Is Sex Necessary?, a parody of serious psychological books about sex. It included many illustrations by Thurber, and the popularity of these convinced The New Yorker to start printing his cartoons. Over the 1930s several books of his writings and cartoons appeared, including My Life and Hard Times, a collection of reminiscences about Thurber's childhood in Columbus that is often considered his finest work. In 1935 he and Althea divorced, and he immediately remarried, to Helen Wismer. In 1938 he and a college friend, Elliott Nugent, wrote a play, The Male Animal, which had a successful run in 1940 and 1941 and was later made into a film.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “James Thurber” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.