Walter Braden (Jack) Finney | |
---|---|
Born |
Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States |
October 2, 1911
Died | November 14, 1995 Greenbrae, California, United States |
(aged 84)
Occupation | Novelist, short story writer |
Nationality | American |
Period | 1946–1995 |
Genre | Noir fiction, science fiction, thrillers, comedy |
Subject | 19th century American history |
Jack Finney (October 2, 1911 – November 14, 1995) was an American author. His best-known works are science fiction and thrillers, including The Body Snatchers and Time and Again. The former was the basis for the 1956 movie Invasion of the Body Snatchers and its remakes.
Finney was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin and given the name John Finney. After his father died when he was three years old, he was renamed Walter Braden Finney in honor of his father, but continued to be known as "Jack" throughout his life. He attended Knox College in Galesburg, Illinois, graduating in 1934. He married Marguerite Guest and they had two children, Kenneth and Marguerite. After living in New York City and working for an advertising agency there, he moved with his family to California in the early 1950s. He lived in Mill Valley, California, and died of pneumonia and emphysema in Greenbrae, California at 84.
"The Widow's Walk", won a contest sponsored by Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine in 1946. His first novel, 5 Against the House, was published in 1954. It was made into a movie the following year.
Finney's novel The Body Snatchers (1955) was the basis for the 1956 movie Invasion of the Body Snatchers (and its remakes).