Irving Wallace facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Irving Wallace
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Wallace in 1972
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| Born | March 19, 1916 Chicago, Illinois, U.S. |
| Died | June 29, 1990 (aged 74) Los Angeles, California, U.S. |
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| Period | 1955–1990 |
| Genre | Fiction, historical |
| Notable works | The Fabulous Originals (1955) The Sins of Philip Fleming (1959) |
| Spouse | Sylvia Kahn (1917-2006) |
| Children | Amy Wallace David Wallechinsky |
| Parent(s) | Bessie Liss Alexander Wallace |
Irving Wallace (March 19, 1916 – June 29, 1990) was an American best-selling author and screenwriter. He was known for his heavily researched novels.
Early life
Wallace was born in Chicago, Illinois, to Bessie Liss and Alexander Wallace (an Americanized version of the original family name of Wallechinsky). The family was Jewish and originally from Russia. Wallace was named after his maternal grandfather, a bookkeeper and Talmudic scholar of Narewka, Poland. Wallace grew up at 6103 Eighteenth Avenue in Kenosha, Wisconsin, where he attended Kenosha Central High School. He was the father of Olympic historian David Wallechinsky and author Amy Wallace.
Career
Wallace began selling stories to magazines when he was a teenager. In the Second World War Wallace served in the Frank Capra unit in Fort Fox along with Theodor Seuss Geisel – better known as Dr. Seuss – and continued to write for magazines. He also served in the First Motion Picture Unit of the Army Air Force. Soon, however, Wallace turned to a more lucrative job as a Hollywood screenwriter. He collaborated on such films as The West Point Story (1950), Split Second (1953), Meet Me at the Fair (1953), and The Big Circus (1959). He also contributed three scripts to the western television program Have Gun – Will Travel.
After an unsatisfying stint in Hollywood, he devoted himself full-time to writing books. He published his first non-fiction work in 1955, The Fabulous Originals, and his first fiction offering, The Sins of Philip Fleming, in 1959. The latter, ignored by critics, was followed by the enormously successful The Chapman Report. Wallace published 33 books during his lifetime, translated into 31 languages.
Irving Wallace was married to Sylvia (née Kahn) Wallace, a former magazine writer and editor. Her first novel, The Fountains, was an American best-seller and published in twelve foreign editions. Her second novel, Empress, was published in 1980. Sylvia Wallace died October 20, 2006, at age 89.
Several of Wallace's books have been made into films, including The Chapman Report, The Man, The Seven Minutes and New Delhi. Also among his best-known books are The Prize (1962), The Word (1972) and The Fan Club (1974).
With his son, daughter and wife he produced some notable non-fiction works, including three editions each of The People's Almanac (with son David) and The Book of Lists (with David and Amy and wife Sylvia for the second volume). Wallace used many of the odd facts he uncovered in his novels.
Wallace died of pancreatic cancer on June 29, 1990, at age 74. He was interred at Hillside Memorial Park Cemetery in Culver City, California.
