LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Writer Ray Bradbury, author of influential novels "Fahrenheit 451" and "The Martian Chronicles", has died in Los Angeles at the age of 91.
Following are some key facts about Bradbury:
- Bradbury was born in Waukegan, Illinois on August 22, 1920 and moved to Los Angeles as a teenager. He did not go to college but educated himself by spending hours reading in public libraries, and was heavily influenced by the works of Edgar Allan Poe, Edgar Rice Burroughs and H.G. Wells.
- His most famous work "Fahrenheit 451" was written on a rented typewriter at the UCLA library and published in 1953.
- Other works included "The Martian Chronicles", "The Illustrated Man", "Something Wicked This Way Comes", "Dandelion Wine, Farewell Summer," and numerous short stories.
- Bradbury disliked being labeled a science fiction writer, saying that "Fahrenheit 451" was based on reality.
- Many of his short stories and novels were turned into movies and TV shows or adapted for the stage, earning him a star on Hollywood's Walk of Fame and an Emmy award in 1994 for the screenplay of "The Halloween Tree."
- Other awards included the National Medal of Arts, a 2007 special citation from the Pulitzer Board, and an asteroid discovered in 1992 was named "9766 Bradbury" in his honor.
(Reporting by Jill Serjeant; Editing by Anthony Boadle)