James Hilton, writer who created the magical Shangri-la, was born on this day in 1900 and he passed away on December 20, 1954.
An English novelist, best remembered for several best-sellers, including Lost Horizon and Goodbye, Mr. Chips, also wrote Hollywood screenplays.
Born in Leigh, Lancashire, England, Hilton was the son of John Hilton, the headmaster of Chapel End School in Walthamstow. He was educated at the Monoux School Walthamstow till 1914, then The Leys School, Cambridge, and then at Christ's College, Cambridge, where he wrote his first novel and was awarded an honours degree in English literature. He started work as a journalist, first for the Manchester Guardian, then reviewing fiction for The Daily Telegraph.
He wrote his two best remembered books, Lost Horizon and Goodbye, Mr. Chips, while living in a house in Oak Hill Gardens, in Woodford Green in northeast London. The house still stands, with a blue plaque marking Hilton's residence. By 1938 he had moved to California, and his work became more connected with the Hollywood film industry. While he was in California Hilton was also host of one of radio's prestige drama anthologies, Hallmark Playhouse, from 1948 to 1952.
He married Alice Brown, a secretary at the BBC, just before they left for the United States in 1935, but they divorced in 1937.He then married Galina Kopernak, but they divorced eight years later. He became an American citizen in 1948.
A heavy smoker, Hilton had various health problems when he made a farewell visit to England in 1954, and in December he died at his home in Long Beach, California, from liver cancer, with his reconciled former wife Alice at his side. His obituary in The Times describes him as "a modest and retiring man for all his success; he was a keen mountaineer and enjoyed music and travel." He was buried at Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Long Beach).
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