27 Facts About Harper Lee

Harper Lee wrote the 1960 novel To Kill a Mockingbird that won the 1961 Pulitzer Prize and became a classic of modern American literature.

Harper Lee assisted her close friend Truman Capote in his research for the book In Cold Blood.

Nelle Harper Lee was born on April 28,1926, in Monroeville, Alabama, the youngest of four children of Frances Cunningham and Amasa Coleman Lee.

Harper Lee's parents chose her middle name, Harper, to honor pediatrician Dr William W Harper, of Selma, who had saved the life of her sister Louise.

Harper Lee's mother was a homemaker; her father was a former newspaper editor, businessman, and lawyer, who served in the Alabama State Legislature from 1926 to 1938.

Harper Lee became a title lawyer, he once defended two black men accused of murdering a white storekeeper.

One winter night, as Charles J Shields recounts in Mockingbird: A Portrait of Harper Lee, Lee threw her manuscript out her window and into the snow, before calling Hohoff in tears.

Harper Lee was a real man, and he lived just down the road from us.

For 40 years, Harper Lee lived part-time at 433 East 82nd Street in Manhattan, near her childhood friend Capote.

Harper Lee assumed significant care responsibilities for her aging father, who was thrilled with her success, and who even began signing autographs as "Atticus Finch".

Harper Lee's health worsened and he died in Alabama on April 15,1962.

Harper Lee decided to spend more time in New York City as she mourned.

Harper Lee preferred to visit friends at their homes, and made unannounced appearances at libraries or other gatherings, particularly in Monroeville.

Harper Lee realized that her book had become controversial, particularly with segregationists and other opponents of the civil rights movement.

In 1966, Harper Lee wrote a letter to the editor in response to the attempts of a Richmond, Virginia, area school board to ban To Kill a Mockingbird as "immoral literature":.

Harper Lee built the fund using contributions from readers and later used it to defend books as well as people.

When Harper Lee attended the 1983 Alabama History and Heritage Festival in Eufaula, Alabama, as her sister had arranged, she presented the essay "Romance and High Adventure".

At the urging of Peck's widow, Veronique Peck, Harper Lee traveled by train from Monroeville to Los Angeles in 2005 to accept the Los Angeles Public Library Literary Award.

Harper Lee attended luncheons for students who have written essays based on her work, held annually at the University of Alabama.

On May 3,2013, Harper Lee filed a lawsuit in the United States District Court to regain the copyright to To Kill a Mockingbird, seeking unspecified damages from a son-in-law of her former literary agent and related entities.

Harper Lee claimed that the man "engaged in a scheme to dupe" her into assigning him the copyright on the book in 2007 when her hearing and eyesight were in decline, and she was residing in an assisted-living facility after having suffered a stroke.

In February 2014, Harper Lee settled a lawsuit against the Monroe County Heritage Museum for an undisclosed amount.

Harper Lee's attorneys had filed a trademark application on August 19,2013, to which the museum filed an opposition.

In February 2015, the State of Alabama, through its Human Resources Department, launched an investigation into whether Harper Lee was competent enough to consent to the publishing of Go Set a Watchman.

Nocera noted that other people in a 2011 Sotheby's meeting insisted that Harper Lee's attorney was present in 2011, when Harper Lee's former agent and the Sotheby's specialist found the manuscript.

Harper Lee died in her sleep on the morning of February 19,2016, aged 89.

Harper Lee was portrayed by Catherine Keener in the film Capote, by Sandra Bullock in the film Infamous, and by Tracey Hoyt in the TV movie Scandalous Me: The Jacqueline Susann Story.