Harold Robbins: 1916-1997
Harold Robbins was born Harold Rubin, in New York City on May 21, 1916. He was the son of well-educated Russian and Polish immigrants. His father was a successful pharmacist.After leaving high school he worked at several jobs.
Robbins married at a young age and moved to Hollywood where he worked for Universal Pictures, first as a shipping clerk. Later he became a studio executive.
From 1957 on Robbins worked as a full-time writer. Although he did not have success with literary critics, he believed he would be recognized as the world's best author sooner or later. Of his many works perhaps the most acclaimed was A Stone for Danny Fisher, a coming-of-age story set in New York City in the Depression.
The excitement of reading one of his unabashedly trashy novels is the author's claims that all of his characters were based on real people. It is not surprising therefore, that most of his 23 novels have been made into either feature films or television movies and miniseries.
Robbins was married five times.
From 1982 he was obliged to use a wheelchair because of hip trouble but he continued writing. In later years Robbin went broke, lost his wife, and wrote his books in the hope that they "would keep him in lobster and cocaine money."
Robbins died of respiratory heart failure in Palm Springs, CA, on October 14, 1997.