S P A C E L I G H T

INDEX

kuttner

VITAL STATISTICS

Name: KUTTNER, Henry Aged: 42
Born: April 7, 1915 Where: Los Angeles, California
Died: February 4, 1958 Where: Santa Monica, California
Cremated: Ashes interred Woodlawn Cem.; Chapel of the Pacific.
Married: Catherine Lucille Moore When: June 7, 1940
Awarded: 1940 World's SF convention voted Kuttner the Best SF Writer in the World.

Henry Kuttner

"Since our marriage, we have collaborated on almost everything we write . . . it is
almost impossible now to tell which of us wrote what part of any particular story."

A highly imaginative writer whose shortened life would have been even more tragic had he not been so prolific and intelligent. Kuttner moved from his native California to New York in 1940 after his marriage to Catherine Moore, an established SF writer, so that both could be nearer the markets of New York City.

The Kuttners were noted for collections like Line to Tomorrow, Ahead of Time, and Tomorrow and Tomorrow; and for shorter works, at which the team excelled, "The Twonky," "Don't Look Now," "A Gnome There Was," and "Mimsy Were the Borogoves."

With the exception of Henry's service in WW II, the Kuttners wrote continuously for nearly two decades before becoming burned out. Henry took that opportunity to use the GI Bill and acquire a college education at the University of California. Catherine went along too, but her classes were privately funded and she required an extra 2 years to graduate. The Kuttner's move from New York back to California was motivated primarily by an irresistable urge Henry had to return home, gain an education, and to be near movie and emerging television markets. Both Kuttners were actively engaged in radio scripting and screen-writing when Henry died. C. L. Moore would continue alone but she wrote no more science fiction.

Kuttner had a psychic vision of his death and wrote about it 10 years prior to the event in which he called the name "enri utner" and year. Henry had another vision of impending death the night before he died of a heart attack.

PEN NAMES: With his wife, at least 16 jointly; Edward J. Bellin, Paul Edmonds, Noel Gardner, Will Garth (house name), James Hall, Keith Hammond, Hudson Hastings, Peter Horn, Robert O. Kenyon, C. H. Liddell, K. Hugh Maepenn, Scott Morgan, Lawrence O'Donnell (mostly C. L. Moore), Lewis Padgett, Woodrow Wilson Smith, & Charles Stoddard (adventure stories).
Kelvin Kent was used by Kuttner & Arthur K. Barnes, either singly or in collaboration. C. L. Moore was not involved in these stories.

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Mine here.

BIOGRAPHY: Science Fiction Writers, Scribners 1982

OBITUARY: Associated Press, Thursday, February 6, 1958

WWII DATA: Army SN 32887567, Henry Kuttner, res New York, New York. Enlisted April 12, 1943, NYC. Pvt. Nativity California. Born 1915. White. 4 years high school. Married.


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