Ray Bradbury Biography Essay

Ray Douglas Bradbury, was born in Waukegan, Illinois, on August 22, 1920 and died on June 5, 2012 in Los Angles, California. He was the third son of father Leonard Spaulding Bradbury and mother Esther Marie Moberg Bradbury. They gave him the middle name "Douglas," after the actor, Douglas Fairbanks. He never became a swashbuckling actor but Mr. Bradbury's greatest adventures would take place behind the keys of a typewriter. Today, as an author, essayist, playwright, screenwriter, lecturer, poet and visionary, Ray Bradbury is known as one of America's greatest creative geniuses. Mr. Bradbury's early childhood in Waukegan was characterized by his loving extended family, especially his Aunt Neva who took him to plays and encouraged the use of imagination. These influential years provided the foundations for both the author and his stories. The Bradbury family lived in Tucson, Arizona, in 1926–27 and 1932–33 as the father pursued employment, each time returning to Waukegan, but eventually settled in Los Angeles in 1934, when Mr. Bradbury was 14. The family arrived with only 40 dollars, which paid for rent and food until his father finally found a job making wire at a cable company for $14 a week. This meant that they could stay, however, and Mr. …show more content…
Mr. Bradbury’s first book to be published was The Martian Chronicles, and his last and greatest book was Fahrenheit 451. Mr. Bradbury won many awards, such as the 2000 National Book Foundation Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters, the 2004 National Medal of Arts, and the 2007 Pulitzer Prize Special Citation. Throughout his life, Mr. Bradbury liked to recount the story of meeting a carnival magician, Mr. Electrico, in 1932. At the end of his performance, Mr. Electrico reached out to the twelve-year-old Ray, touched the boy with his sword, and commanded, “Live Forever!” Mr. Bradbury later said, I decided that was the greatest idea I had ever heard. I started writing every day, and I never