1. George Plimpton is known for his sports writing and for helping to found The Paris Review, as well as his patrician demeanor and accent.
36 Facts About George Plimpton
1. 2.
George Plimpton was known for "participatory journalism," including accounts of his active involvement in professional sporting events, acting in a Western, performing a comedy act at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, and playing with the New York Philharmonic Orchestra and then recording the experience from the point of view of an amateur.
3.
George Plimpton was born in New York City on March 18,1927, and spent his childhood there, attending St Bernard's School and growing up in an apartment duplex on Manhattan's Upper East Side located at 1165 Fifth Avenue.
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George Plimpton was the son of Francis T P Plimpton and the grandson of Frances Taylor Pearsons and George Arthur Plimpton.
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George Plimpton's father was a successful corporate lawyer and name partner of the law firm Debevoise and Plimpton; he was appointed by President John F Kennedy as US deputy ambassador to the United Nations, serving from 1961 to 1965.
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George Plimpton's mother was Pauline Ames, the daughter of botanist Oakes Ames and artist Blanche Ames.
7.
George Plimpton was the great-granddaughter on her father's side of Oakes Ames, an industrialist and congressman who was implicated in the Credit Mobilier railroad scandal of 1872; and Governor-General of New Orleans Benjamin Franklin Butler, an American lawyer and politician who represented Massachusetts in the United States House of Representatives and later served as the 33rd Governor of Massachusetts.
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George Plimpton wrote for the Harvard Lampoon, was a member of the Hasty Pudding Club, Pi Eta, the Signet Society, and the Porcellian Club and majored in English.
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George Plimpton entered Harvard as a member of the Class of 1948, but did not graduate until 1950 due to intervening military service.
10.
In 1952, Plimpton was recruited by Peter Matthiessen to join the literary journal The Paris Review, founded by Matthiessen, Thomas H Guinzburg, and Harold L Humes.
11.
Matthiessen took the magazine over from Humes and ousted him as editor, replacing him with George Plimpton, using it as his cover for Matthiessen's CIA activities.
12.
George Plimpton was associated with the Paris literary magazine Merlin, which folded because the State Department withdrew its support.
13.
That same year, George Plimpton interviewed Ernest Hemingway for the Review.
14.
George Plimpton was famous for competing in professional sporting events and then recording the experience from the point of view of an amateur.
15.
In 1963, George Plimpton attended preseason training with the Detroit Lions of the National Football League as a backup quarterback, and he ran a few plays in an intrasquad scrimmage.
16.
George Plimpton revisited pro football in 1971, this time joining the defending Super Bowl champion Baltimore Colts and seeing action in an exhibition game against his previous team, the Lions.
17.
The article was so convincing that many readers believed it, and the popularity of the prank led to George Plimpton expanding on Sidd's story in The Curious Case of Sidd Finch.
18.
George Plimpton appeared in the PBS American Masters documentary on Andy Warhol and in the closing credits of the 2006 film Factory Girl.
19.
In 1998, George Plimpton published an oral biography of Truman Capote.
20.
In 2002, Plimpton collaborated with Terry Quinn on Zelda, Scott and Ernest, a play based on the correspondence of F Scott Fitzgerald, Zelda Fitzgerald and Hemingway.
21.
In 1989, George Plimpton appeared in the documentary The Tightrope Dancer, about the life and the work of the artist Vali Myers.
22.
In 1994, George Plimpton appeared in the Ken Burns series Baseball, sharing personal baseball experiences and commenting on memorable events from the history of the game.
23.
George Plimpton appeared in more than thirty films as an extra or in cameo appearances.
24.
George Plimpton was a Bedouin in Lawrence of Arabia, a thief in Rio Lobo, Tom Hanks's antagonistic father in Volunteers and a psychologist in Good Will Hunting.
25.
George Plimpton hosted Mouseterpiece Theater, a Masterpiece Theatre spoof featuring Disney cartoon shorts.
26.
George Plimpton had a recurring role as the grandfather of Dr Carter on ER and was a cast member of Nero Wolfe.
27.
George Plimpton was known for his distinctive accent which, by George Plimpton's own admission, was often mistaken for an English accent.
28.
George Plimpton himself described it as a "New England cosmopolitan accent" or "Eastern seaboard cosmopolitan" accent.
29.
George Plimpton was the daughter of writers Willard R Espy and Hilda S Cole, who had, earlier in her career, been a publicity agent for Kate Smith and Fred Waring.
30.
In 1992, George Plimpton married Sarah Whitehead Dudley, a graduate of Columbia University and a freelance writer.
31.
George Plimpton is the daughter of James Chittenden Dudley, a managing partner of Manhattan-based investment firm Dudley and Company, and geologist Elisabeth Claypool.
32.
At Harvard, Plimpton was a classmate and close personal friend of Robert F Kennedy.
33.
George Plimpton died on September 25,2003, in his New York City apartment from a heart attack later determined to have been caused by a catecholamine surge.
34.
George Plimpton was made an officier of the French Ordre des Arts et des Lettres and a chevalier of the Legion of Honour, and was a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters.
35.
An oral biography, George, Being George was edited by Nelson W Aldrich Jr.
36.
Researcher and writer Samuel Arbesman filed with NASA to name an asteroid after George Plimpton; NASA issued the certificate 7932 George Plimpton in 2009.