Alfred Alvarez was born in London, to an Ashkenazic Jewish mother and a father from a Sephardic Jewish family.
10 Facts About Al Alvarez
2.
Al Alvarez was educated at The Hall School in Hampstead, London, and then Oundle School and Corpus Christi College, Oxford, where he took a First in English.
3.
Al Alvarez was elected as a Jane Eliza Procter Visiting Fellow at Princeton University.
4.
Al Alvarez's renowned study of suicide, The Savage God, gained added resonance from his friendship with Plath.
5.
Al Alvarez wrote on divorce, dreams, and the oil industry, as well as his hobbies of poker and mountaineering.
6.
In July 1989 Al Alvarez made an extended appearance on the Channel 4 discussion programme After Dark to discuss gambling alongside, among others, Victor Lownes and David Berglas.
7.
Al Alvarez was portrayed by Jared Harris in the 2003 film Sylvia, which chronicles the troubled relationship between Plath and her husband Ted Hughes.
8.
Al Alvarez died at the age of 90 from viral pneumonia.
9.
Al Alvarez was survived by his second wife, Anne, and by their children, Luke and Kate.
10.
In 1990 the British Library acquired Al Alvarez's archive consisting of correspondence, and papers relating to his poetry, prose publications and scripts for stage, film, radio and television.