In the course of a 40-year writing career, MacKinlay Kantor found time to contribute to the big screen as both a novelist and screenwriter. Born in Webster City, IA, he was the son of Effie McKinlay, the editor of a local daily newspaper, and he began his career as a journalist at the age of 17. He had aspirations as an author and at age 24 finished his first novel, Diversey, which was not a success. Kantor spent the next six years making a living writing for newspapers. Then, in 1934, he published Long Remember, a novel that became a best-seller and was so successful that the film rights were purchased; Kantor followed the lead and headed to Hollywood, where three of his books were turned into movies over the next few years. The outbreak of World War II drew Kantor back into journalism — by most accounts, he really wanted to play a fighting role but instead went over to Europe as a correspondent covering the air war. Kantor found fresh literary success in 1945 when he wrote Glory for Me, a novel in verse form that dealt with men in uniform trying to adjust to civilian life after World War II. Despite its being written in stanzaic form, the book was surprisingly straightforward and gritty in its sensibilities about its characters; Glory for Me was well received at the time by critics and the public alike, and it became a huge success. Even before publication, it had been optioned by Samuel Goldwyn and was transformed by playwright Robert E. Sherwood into the screenplay for …  » Read more