Greene, Graham, 1904-1991

English novelist.

English writer and dramatist.

Graham (Henry) Greene (1904-1991), writer, film critic, and editor, born in Berkhamsted, England, the son of Charles Henry and Marion Raymond Greene.

English author.

English author, poet and playwright.

Born in Berkhamsted, Hertfordshire, England, Greene attended Oxford and then joined the staff of THE TIMES. He converted to Catholicism in 1926 and his first novel appeared in 1929. Many of Greene's works were adapted for radio and television. His first play appeared in 1953.

Graham Henry Greene was born on Oct. 2, 1904 in Berkhamsted, England to Charles Henry Greene and Marion Raymond Greene. His father was headmaster of Berkhamsted School, which Greene attended from 1915 until 1921. He completed his formal education at Balliol College, Oxford, where he took a second in modern history in 1925. The next year Greene converted from Anglicanism to Roman Catholicism, and, in 1927, married Vivien Dayrell Browning, a fellow Catholic. They had two children, Lucy Caroline and Francis. Greene, a prolific writer, is best known as a novelist, though he also wrote plays, short stories, and non-fiction. He was on the staff of The times, London from 1926 to 1930 and was literary editor of The spectator during 1940 and 1941. He contributed film criticism to the short-lived periodical Night and day (July 1-Dec. 23, 1937), and, in 1954, was the Indochina correspondent for The new republic. During World War II he worked for the British Foreign Office and was stationed in Africa. In 1977 he was a member of the Panamanian delegation to Washington for the signing of the Panama Canal Treaties. Greene died on April 3, 1991 in Vevey, Switzerland.

Harold Adrian Russell "Kim" Philby (1912-1988) was a British intelligence operative who spied for the Soviet Union. Recruited to the KGB while a student at Cambridge, he provided the Soviet Union with a wealth of information gathered in his position in the British Secret Intelligence Service. In 1949 he was posted to Washington, D.C., as the British liaison to the Central Intelligence Agency, but he fell under suspicion and in 1951 was recalled to London. Failiing to be reinstated to the Intelligence Service, Philby went to Lebanon as a freelance intelligence agent, and, in 1963, defected to Moscow, where he spent the rest of his life. He married his fourth wife, Rufina, a Russian, in 1971. Graham Greene, who had been a wartime colleague of Philby in the British Secret Intelligence Service, visited him in Moscow in 1986 and 1987.

English author, poet and playwright.

Greene attended Oxford and then joined the staff of THE TIMES. He converted to Catholicism in 1926 and his first novel appeared in 1929. Many of Greene's works were adapted for radio and television. He emerged as one of the major authors of the twentieth century.

BIOGHIST REQUIRED Graham Greene was one of the most widely read authors, playwrights and literary critics of the twentieth century. Born in Berkhamsted, Hertfordshire, in 1904, Henry Graham Greene was the fourth of six children. Greene was first educated at the Berkhamsted School where his father was headmaster. He left the school at age 15, and moved on to study modern history at Balliol College in Oxford. It was there that Greene was able to hone in his interests in politics and writing, and worked as editor for The Oxford Outlook. After college, Greene converted to Roman Catholicism in 1926, partially under the influence of his future wife, Vivien Dayrell-Browning, whom he married in 1927. Greene's interests in Catholicism and international politics would continue to influence his work throughout his lifetime. Shortly after college, Greene moved to London and worked as a copy editor for The Times for 4 years, and upon the success of his first novel, The Man Within (1929), he quit The Times and traveled for three years as a freelance journalist.

BIOGHIST REQUIRED In 1941, Greene began working for the British Foreign Office, and was stationed at Freetown, Sierra Leone, for a good portion of Word War II, which was the setting for his well known novel, The Heart of the Matter (1948; filmed 1953). The Quiet American (filmed 1958, 2002) also draws upon Greene's experiences as an agent in Sierra Leone and on his experiences in Saigon. Greene wrote many short stories, novels, and "entertainment pieces" (such as comedies and thrillers) throughout his lifetime; his travels and experiences as both an agent and journalist greatly influenced his writing. The Lawless Roads (1939) and The Power and the Glory (1940), for example, were written after Greene traveled to Mexico to witness religious purges.

BIOGHIST REQUIRED In 1966, Greene became Companion of Honour, and in 1986 he received an Order of Merit. Greene's success as a writer enabled him to live comfortably in London, Antibes, and Capri, and he would continue to travel and write until old age prevented him from doing so. Greene died at the age of 86 in Vevey, Switzerland, on April 13th, 1991.

Born in Berkhamstead, England, in 1904, Henry Graham Green was the fourth of six children born to Charles Henry and Marion Raymond Greene. Greene led a fairly typical childhood for the time, raised largely by nurses and nannies in the nursery and spending relatively little time with his parents. His father held a position as a headmaster at the Berkhamstead School giving Graham an early taste of divided loyalties when he entered the school in 1915. At the age of sixteen Graham had a mental crisis during which he ran away from home and school. Coming on top of several questionable suicide attempts and exaggerated illnesses, his parents sent him for six months of psychoanalysis.

In 1925 Greene took a second class degree at Oxford and published a book of poetry, Babbling April . Between 1925 and 1927 he courted Vivienne Dayrell-Browning, pursuing her with almost obsessive eagerness. Many critics credit Greene's conversion to Catholicism as a tactic to gain Vivien's favor. Regardless of his motives, Greene joined the Catholic church in 1926 and married Vivien in 1927.

Before his marriage Greene took a position as a literary journalist with The Times where he worked his way up to an editorship. However, when his first novel, The Man Within, was published in 1929 he took the almost unheard of step of resigning his position to become a full-time author. His next two books were not well received but Stamboul Train (1935; published as Orient Express in the United States, 1936), his first spy thriller, gained him a popular audience. His next two novels, It's a Battlefield (1934) and England Made Me (1935) illustrated Greene's ongoing fixation with betrayal, man's inner conflict between good and evil, and innocence as accessory to corruption.

Greene's marriage was ultimately unsuccessful. After the birth of two children, Greene found the house too noisy to write in. He carried on several less-than-discreet long-term affairs as well as regular assignations with prostitutes. He and Vivien finally separated in 1948 but never divorced.

Over the course of his life Greene traveled extensively, often to political hotspots such as Vietnam, Kenya, Liberia, and Cuba. He served in the British Intelligence Service during World War II, operating in Sierra Leone. His travels satisfied his taste for adventure while providing background for his works.

Greene's prolific and popular writing allowed him to live comfortably in London, Antibes, and Capri. Towards the end of his life he lived in Vevey, Switzerland where he died in 1991.