MacKinlay Kantor

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MacKinlay Kantor bigraphy, stories - Novelist, short story writer, screenwriter, journalist

MacKinlay Kantor : biography

04 February 1904 – 11 October 1977

MacKinlay Kantor (February 4, 1904 – October 11, 1977), born Benjamin McKinlay Kantor, was an American journalist, novelist and screenwriter. He wrote more than 30 novels, several set during the American Civil War, and was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1956 for his 1955 novel Andersonville, about the Confederate prisoner of war camp. (The novel is often erroneously believed to have been the basis for the stage play and TV movie The Andersonville Trial (1970), as well as for the TV mini-series Andersonville (film) (1995), but neither has any actual connection to Kantor’s work.)

Legacy and honors

  • 1956 Pulitzer Prize for Andersonville
  • 1976, Kantor-Mollenhoff Plaza in West Twin Park, Webster City, Iowa, was named in honor of him and the author Clark R. Mollenhoff, as part of the city’s Bicentennial Celebration
  • 1989, MacKinlay Kantor Drive in Webster City was named in his honor.
  • Original editions of his more than 40 books were donated to the Kendall Young Library in Webster City by his longtime friend Richard Whiteman, who also donated more than $1 million to a library expansion.

Early life and education

Benjamin McKinlay Kantor was born and grew up in Webster City, Iowa, the second child and only son in his family. He had a sister Virginia. His mother, Effie (McKinlay) Kantor, worked as the editor of the Webster City Daily News during part of his childhood. His father, John Martin Kantor, was a Jewish, native-born Swede descended from "a long line of rabbis, who posed as a Protestant clergyman.", in Publishers Weekly, printed on Amazon.com, accessed 17 Oct 2010 His mother was of English, Irish, Scottish, and Pennsylvania Dutch ancestry. (Later MacKinlay Kantor wrote an unpublished novel called Half Jew.), The Armchair Detective, Spring 1997, republished on Mystery File, accessed 17 Oct 2010 Kantor’s father had trouble keeping jobs and abandoned the family before Benjamin was born. His mother returned to live with her children at the home of her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Adam McKinlay, in the same city.

As a child, the boy started using his middle name McKinlay as his given name. He changed its spelling, adding an "a", because he thought it sounded more Scottish, and chose to be called "Mack" or MacKinlay. He attended the local schools and made full use of the Kendall Young Library, which he described as his "university". Mack Kantor won a writing contest with his first story "Purple".

Marriage and family

Kantor married Florence Irene Layne, and they had two children together. Their son Tim Kantor wrote a biography/memoir of his father.

Filmography

Films
  • The Voice of Bugle Ann (novel) (1936)
  • Mountain Music (story) (1937)
  • The Man from Dakota (novel, Arouse and Beware) (1940)
  • Happy Land (novel) (1943)
  • Gentle Annie (novel) (1944)
  • The Best Years of Our Lives (novel, Glory for Me) (1946)
  • The Romance of Rosy Ridge (novel) (1947)
  • Gun Crazy (story and screenplay) (1950)
  • Hannah Lee: An American Primitive (novel, Wicked Water) (1953)
  • Wind Across the Everglades (actor) (1958)
  • Follow Me, Boys! (novel, God and My Country) (1966)
Television
  • Lux Video Theatre, episode "Forever Walking Free" (story) (1951)
  • Studio One in Hollywood, episode "Signal Thirty-Two" (novel) (1953)
  • The 20th Century Fox Hour, episode "In Times Like These" (novel, Happy Land) (1956)

Career

From 1928 to 1934, Kantor wrote numerous stories for pulp fiction magazines, to earn a living and support his family, including crime stories and mysteries. He sold his first pulp stories, “Delivery Not Received” and “A Bad Night for Benny,” to Edwin Baird, editor of [Real Detective Tales and Mystery Stories. He also wrote for Detective Fiction Weekly. In 1928, Kantor published his first novel, Diversey, set in Chicago, Illinois.