‘Angela’s Ashes’ author McCourt dies at 78

< Prev | 1 | 2

Slideshow

First-class confessions
In his new book, “PostSecret,” blogger Frank Warren shares the juicy secrets that people have anonymously sent to him on postcards.

more photos

The Week in...

AP	Animal Tracks Two Thanksgiving turkeys, a see-through sea creature, a camouflaged catfish, a hungry golden monkey, a kissing pooch – plus more animals great and small.
Reuters	The Week in Pictures A starry night, cat’s mouth, a lighthouse stands tall, bear attack, a sea of balloons, H1N1 reaction and more news and feature photos from around the globe.
Getty Images	The Week in celebrity sightings Adam Lambert talks about AMAs fallout, Richie Sambora finds his way in New Jersey, Spike Lee follows his Knicks to L.A. and more.

TODAY holiday guide video

Last-minute Thanksgiving cooking tips
Nov. 25: Food Network star Alex Guarnaschelli shares some simple cooking tips that will make you look like a gourmet chef.

Test your Thanksgiving knowledge

Celebrate with Thanksgiving cocktails

How fatty are your Thanksgiving favorites?

Make a no-fuss fruit crisp

The white-haired, sad-eyed, always quotable McCourt, his Irish accent still thick despite decades in the U.S., became a regular at parties, readings, conferences and other gatherings, so much the eager late-life celebrity that he later compared himself to a "dancing clown, available to everybody."

"I wasn't prepared for it," McCourt told The Associated Press in 2005. "After teaching, I was getting all this attention. They actually looked at me — people I had known for years — and they were friendly and they looked me in a different way. And I was thinking, `All those years I was a teacher, why didn't you look at me like that then?'"

But the part of it he liked best, he said, was hearing "from all those kids who were in my classes."

"At least they knew that when I talked about writing I wasn't just talking through my hat," he said.

Taught at elite NYC school
Much of his teaching was spent in the English department at the elite Stuyvesant High School in Manhattan, where he defied the advice of his colleagues and shared his personal stories with the class; he slapped a student with a magazine and took on another known to have a black belt in karate.

After "Angela's Ashes," McCourt continued his story, to strong but diminished sales and reviews, in "'Tis," which told of his return to New York in the 1940s, and in "Teacher Man." McCourt also wrote a children's story, "Angela and the Baby Jesus," released in 2007.

McCourt was married twice and had a daughter, Maggie McCourt, from his first marriage.

His brother Malachy McCourt is an actor, commentator and singer who wrote two memoirs and, in 2006, ran for New York governor as the Green Party candidate. At least one of Frank McCourt's former students, Susan Gilman, became a writer.

McCourt will be cremated, his brother said. A memorial service is planned for September.

< Prev | 1 | 2

Discuss Story On Newsvine
Rate Story:
View popularLowHigh
Email
Instant Message
Print

Categories

‘Angela’s Ashes’ author McCourt dies at 78