Ardrey, Robert

Robert Ardrey was born in Chicago Illinois on the 16 October 1908, to Robert Leslie Ardrey and Marie Haswell. He attended the University of Chicago between 1927 and 1930, where he studied in the Natural and Social Science department, and graduated Phi Beta Kappa. Thornton Wilder became a mentor to Ardrey at the university, and encouraged him to pursue writing.

Robert Ardrey began his professional writing career as a playwright, writing such plays as Star-Spangled (1936), Casey Jones (1938), Thunder Rock (1939) and Jeb (1946). In 1940 he wrote his first screenplay, They Knew What They Wanted, and subsequently wrote a number of films including: The Green Years (1946); The Three Musketeers (1948); Madame Bovary (1949) and Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (1962). In 1966 he was nominated for an Academy Award for his screenplay for Khartoum. He also wrote two novels: World’s Beginning (1944); and Brotherhood of Fear (1952).

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