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Uris' other novels included "Trinity," an epic best seller about Ireland; "QBVII," a courtroom drama based on his legal troubles with "Exodus"; and "Mila 18," about the Jewish uprising in Warsaw during World War II
Published in 1958, the 600-page "Exodus" was a sensation as millions read Uris' detailed, heroic chronicle of European Jewry from the turn of the century to the establishment of the state of Israel in 1948 I could be very ruthless "It's referred to as 'The Book
In 1960, "Exodus" was released as a feature film, starring Paul Newman Gray contributed to this report "He was basically a failure In researching "Exodus," he logged thousands of miles and ended up reporting on the 1956 conflict in the Middle East He was 78 "
His first novel, "Battle Cry," a story about the marines, was released in 1953 and made into a film Kennedy Award in 1976 The author married three times and had two children "Mila 18" was also an unintentional influence on both American publishing and American slang: Its title convinced a rival publisher to chance the name of an upcoming novel, by a then-unknown Joseph Heller, from "Catch-18" to "Catch-22 For the story of three Irish families from the mid- 19th century to the Easter Rising of 1916, Uris was given the Irish Institute's John F "
More controversy came with "Topaz," an espionage story involving the French government "
Uris' most personal novel, "Mitla Pass," came out in 1988 and closely follows the lives of the author and his family
"I wanted to leave them with a story of what their old man did and let them know he was not infallible In 1968, a year after "Topaz" came out, Vosjoli sued Uris for reneging on a profit-sharing agreement
"I think his personality was formed by the harsh realities of being a Jew in Czarist Russia," Uris told the AP Wladislav Dering, whom the author identified as a war criminal Nine years later, he was reportedly fired by Hitchcock from the adaptation of "Topaz
Writing in The New York Times Book Review, Pete Hamill criticized Uris for the "excess baggage of exposition and information," but concluded "None of that matters as you are swept along in the narrative Two years later, he came out with "The Angry Hills," a spy novel, and in 1956, traveled to Israel to begin research on "Exodus In 1964, a London court ruled in favor of Dering, but awarded him minimal damages and made him pay court costs
"When I read all my correspondence again, I realized I was a hustler," he said I used everything to my advantage
"I was looking for a legacy to leave my new family and my grandchildren," Uris told the AP
Like Zadok, Uris was born in Baltimore and spent several years growing up in Norfolk, Va
Uris also endured some of his own battles, feuding with directors Otto Preminger and Alfred Hitchcock, and fighting lawsuits for both "Exodus" and the thriller "Topaz He served as a marine in World War II and afterward began submitting articles to magazines The book begins in Israel in 1956 during the time of the Suez Canal crisis and centers on the experiences of Gideon Zadok, a writer covering the incident "
After "Exodus," Uris traveled throughout Eastern Europe interviewing Holocaust survivors for "Mila 18
"I think I can say without hesitation that from earliest memory I was determined not to be a failure
The novel then traces Zadok's ancestry back to the 1880s, allowing various relatives to tell their stories "
Controversy helped "Exodus" sell when Uris was accused of libel for his depictions of Dr He went from failure to failure
'"Exodus' has been the Bible of the Jewish dissident movement in Russia," Uris told The Associated Press in a 1988 interview "
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Associated Press writer Madison J '"
Energetic and unafraid, the author was as much an adventurer as a writer, traveling tirelessly and sometimes risking his life
In the 1970s, Uris would enjoy great success with "Trinity," a typically encyclopedic novel, this one about Ireland
Uris died Saturday of natural causes at his home on New York's Shelter Island, photographer Jill Uris said from her home in Aspen, Colo "I was tough Uris is certainly not as good a writer as Pynchon, Barthelme or Nabokov; but he is a better storyteller Leon Uris, Author of 'Exodus,' Dies at 78
Jun 24, 7:18 AM EST
Author Leon Uris, an immigrant's determined son who made it big with the million-selling "Exodus" and other greatly popular novels, has died, his ex-wife said Tuesday Uris was originally involved with the screenplay, but was reportedly dismissed after a dispute with director Preminger But he pushed on with his life Uris' principal source was Phillipe Thyraud de Vosjoli, an exiled French diplomat who gave the author information about the French Intelligence Service I simply had to tell a story I think failure formed his character, made him bitter " Critics didn't care for the novel (they didn't care for most of his books) but Uris would call it his proudest achievement, "the one thing I wrote not caring if it sold ten copies or ten thousand He finally had a piece, "The All American Razzmatazz," published in the January 1951 issue of "Esquire
The novel was translated into dozens of languages and was even distributed secretly in communist countries "
Uris failed English three times and never graduated from high school I hurt a lot of people on the way up You spend the second half of your life getting over your first half," he said "
"I used to think of myself as a very sad little Jewish boy, isolated in a Southern town, undersized, asthmatic," Uris told the AP His father, Wolf William, was a paper hanger and storekeeper |