Robert Emmett Ginna Jr

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Robert Emmett Ginna Jr. (b. 1925) is a retired magazine reporter and editor, a film producer and screenwriter, and a Harvard faculty member. He co-founded People magazine, served as its first editor, and later was Editor-in-Chief of Little Brown.

Contents

Early life

Ginna was born to Robert Emmett Ginna, a Rochester Gas and Electric executive, and his wife, the former Margaret McCall, both descended from Irish immigrants. [1] [2] [3] Ginna and his father were named for Robert Emmett, an Irish revolutionary who was executed by British authorities in 1803. [3] After an admission to Harvard College, Ginna enlisted in the Navy at age 17, serving in the Pacific during World War Two. [3] He graduated from the University of Rochester in 1948, [4] and went on to get a Master's in Art History from Harvard University. [3]

Career

In his early career, Ginna worked as a reporter and editor for Horizon , Life , and Scientific American . [2] His article "Have We Visitors From Space?" appeared in the April 7, 1952 edition of Life magazine. [5] In 1955, Ginna interviewed Sean O'Casey for NBC television; A decade later, Ginna would produce a film about O'Casey. [6] [7] In 1960, Ginna interviewed filmmaker Stanley Kubrick for Horizon. [8] [9]

In February 1962, Ginnna authored "Life in the Afternoon", an essay about meeting Ernest Hemingway in 1958 Cuba. [10] [11]

During the 1960s, Ginna was a screeenwriter and film producer. Ginna worked with famous filmmaker John Ford on the film Young Cassidy, but Ford had to be replaced mid-shoot. [12] [13]

In 1974, Ginna co-founded People magazine and served as its first Editor-in-Chief. [14] From 1977 to 1980, Ginna was the Editor-in-Chief of Little Brown Publishing  ; In that role, he was influential in writer James Salter's switch from screenplays to novels. [15]

From 1988 to 2002, Ginna served on the faculty of Harvard University, teaching writing and filmmaking. In 2003, Ginna authored The Irish Way: A Walk Through Ireland's Past and Present. [16] [17]

In 2006, Ginna was profiled for his role in creating an academic press at New England College. [18]

Selected works

Filmography

Producer

Screenplays

Personal life

Ginna married Margaret Williams; The pair had two children. She died in 2004. [25] In 2017, their son dedicated his book What Editors Do to his parents. [26] After his wife's death, Ginna was the companion of journalist Gail Sheehy, who died in 2020 at the age of 83. [27]

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References

  1. ↑ Salpukas, Agis (May 26, 2015). "Robert Ginna, 94, a Champion of Nuclear Power - NYTimes.com". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 2015-05-26.
  2. 1 2 Keppen, Julie (October 4, 2004). Contemporary Authors. Cengage Gale. ISBN   978-0-7876-6706-1 – via Google Books.
  3. 1 2 3 4 "Rochester • University of Rochester". www.rochester.edu.
  4. ↑ http://www.lib.rochester.edu/IN/RBSCP/University-History/ATTACHMENTS/Commencement/1948.pdf
  5. ↑ Bullard, Thomas E. (October 17, 2016). "The Myth and Mystery of UFOs". University Press of Kansas – via Google Books.
  6. ↑ O'Casey, Sean (1974). The Sting and the Twinkle: Conversations with Sean O'Casey. Barnes & Noble Books. ISBN   978-0-06-494818-0.
  7. ↑ Nelson, James (February 4, 1958). "Wisdom: Conversations with the Elder Wise Men of Our Day". Norton – via Google Books.
  8. ↑ Duncan, Paul (February 4, 2003). Stanley Kubrick: Visual Poet, 1928-1999. Taschen. ISBN   978-3-8228-1592-2 – via Google Books.
  9. ↑ "Stanley Kubrick speaks for himself". EW.com.
  10. ↑ Canada, Mark (April 3, 2013). Literature and Journalism: Inspirations, Intersections, and Inventions from Ben Franklin to Stephen Colbert. Springer. ISBN   978-1-137-32930-1 – via Google Books.
  11. ↑ Buchholtz, Mirosława; Guttfeld, Dorota (July 21, 2022). Ernest Hemingway in Interview and Translation. Springer Nature. ISBN   978-3-031-07230-7 – via Google Books.
  12. ↑ McBride, Joseph (February 11, 2011). Searching for John Ford. Univ. Press of Mississippi. ISBN   978-1-4968-0056-5 – via Google Books.
  13. ↑ Grant, Barry Keith (February 4, 2003). John Ford's Stagecoach. Cambridge University Press. ISBN   978-0-521-79743-6 – via Google Books.
  14. ↑ Salter, James (November 1, 2017). Don't Save Anything: Uncollected Essays, Articles, and Profiles. Catapult. ISBN   978-1-64009-001-9 – via Google Books.
  15. ↑ Levasseur, Jennifer; Rabalais, Kevin (November 23, 2015). Conversations with James Salter. Univ. Press of Mississippi. ISBN   978-1-4968-0358-0 – via Google Books.
  16. ↑ "Robert Emmett Ginna". October 2, 2015.
  17. 1 2 Ginna, Robert Emmett (February 4, 2003). "The Irish Way: A Walk Through Ireland's Past and Present". Random House – via Google Books.
  18. ↑ "Concord Monitor 16 Apr 2006, page 39". Newspapers.com.
  19. ↑ "Esquire". 1962 – via books.google.com.
  20. ↑ GINNA, ROBERT EMMETT (2002). "In Search of "The Treasure of the Sierra Madre"". The American Scholar. 71 (4): 75–89. JSTOR   41213368 – via JSTOR.
  21. ↑ https://books.google.com/books?id=jgsEAAAAYAA
  22. ↑ Reid, John Howard (March 2006). America's Best, Britain's Finest. Lulu.com. ISBN   978-1-4116-7877-4 – via books.google.com.
  23. ↑ Chibnall, Steve (15 June 2021). J. Lee Thompson. Manchester University Press. ISBN   978-1-5261-6286-1.
  24. ↑ Pitts, Michael R. (4 January 2013). Western Movies. McFarland. ISBN   978-0-7864-6372-5 – via books.google.com.
  25. ↑ "Deaths GINNA, MARGARET WILLIAMS - NYTimes.com". The New York Times. May 16, 2004. Archived from the original on 2015-05-28.
  26. ↑ Ginna, Peter (October 6, 2017). What Editors Do: The Art, Craft, and Business of Book Editing. University of Chicago Press. ISBN   978-0-226-29997-6 – via Google Books.
  27. ↑ Seelye, Katharine Q. (August 25, 2020). "Gail Sheehy, Journalist, Author and Social Observer, Dies at 83". The New York Times– via NYTimes.com.
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