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Helene Hanff 1916 - 1997

About this biography
Updated: October 28, 2018
Biography ID: 11060315
Helene Hanff (1916 - 1997)
Full legal name
Helene Hanff
Last Known Residence
New York, New York County, New York 10021
Born
April 15, 1916
Death
April 9, 1997
Summary
Helene Hanff of New York, New York County, New York was born on April 15, 1916, and died at age 80 years old on April 9, 1997.

Helene Hanff Helene Hanff (1916 - 1997)
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Helene Hanff's Biography

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About Helene

Introduction

Helene Hanff
Biography
Born April 15, 1916 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
Died April 9, 1997 in New York City, New York, USA (pneumonia)
Birth Name Helene Marjorie Hanff
Growing up during the depression in Philadelphia, she was in a family that lived for the theater - her father was a shirt salesman who took the family to plays every week. All she ever wanted to do was to be a playwright. She could only afford a year of college, but all her life continued to learn as an avid reader. She left Philadelphia for New York, and through the 1940s wrote over 20 plays, none ever produced. She supported herself precariously by writing television scripts and children's books. And she read - one wall of her studio apartment was filled with books, almost all from the London antiquarian bookshop Marks & Co. It was that bookshop and her connection with it that brought her fame. She started a correspondence with the shop, and in particular with Frank Doel, the shop's chief buyer. This correspondence, carried on for 20 years from 1949 to 1969, was published in 1970, and was the basis for a British play, then Broadway, and the movie 84 Charing Cross Road (1987) with Anne Bancroft, as Helene and Anthony Hopkins as Frank Doel. Twenty years of hand-to-mouth writing, with an overflowing ashtray and a near-by gin bottle - repeated pleas from Marks & Co. and Frank to visit them in London could only be realised after the success of the book. By then it was too late - the bookshop was boarded up and Frank was dead of peritonitis. There is a brass plaque on the site of the former shop, in memorial to a remarkable correspondence between two remarkable people.
- IMDb Mini Biography By: Bruce Cameron
Trivia
Her former apartment house at 301 E. 72nd Street in New York has been named "Charing Cross House" in her honor. A brass plaque at the entrance commemorates her residence and her authorship of the book.
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Helene Hanff
Most commonly known as
Helene Hanff
Full legal name
None stated
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Name & aliases

New York, New York County, New York 10021
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April 15, 1916
Birthday
Unknown
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April 9, 1997
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Obituary

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Helene Hanff passed away at age 80 years old on April 9, 1997. Helene Hanff of New York, New York County, New York was born on April 15, 1916.

Average Age & Life Expectancy

Helene Hanff lived 2 years longer than the average Hanff family member when she died at the age of 80.
The average age of a Hanff family member is 78.
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Memories: Stories & Photos

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Amanda S. Stevenson 33 followers 15.2k+ favorites
10/28/2018
Helene Hanff
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Amanda S. Stevenson 33 followers 15.2k+ favorites
10/28/2018
Helene Hanff
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Amanda S. Stevenson 33 followers 15.2k+ favorites
10/28/2018
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Amanda S. Stevenson 33 followers 15.2k+ favorites
10/28/2018
Helene Hanff's friends
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Amanda S. Stevenson 33 followers 15.2k+ favorites
10/28/2018
Helene Hanff
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Amanda S. Stevenson 33 followers 15.2k+ favorites
10/28/2018
Helene Hanff with Anne Bancroft
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Amanda S. Stevenson 33 followers 15.2k+ favorites
10/28/2018
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Amanda S. Stevenson 33 followers 15.2k+ favorites
01/18/2018
Helene Hanff
A photo of Helene Hanff at her typewriter when she was younger and not very famous.
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Amanda S. Stevenson 33 followers 15.2k+ favorites
01/19/2018
She wrote 84 Charing Cross Road which became a famous movie starring Anne Bancroft as Helene Hanff and Anthony Hopkins as the book seller in London.
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Family Tree & Friends

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Source(s): Social Security Death Index
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1916 - 1997 World Events

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In 1916, in the year that Helene Hanff was born, the Battle of Verdun was fought from February through December. It was the largest and longest battle of World War I, lasting 303 days. The original estimates were 714,231 casualties - 377,231 French and 337,000 German, an average of 70,000 casualties a month. Current estimates are even larger. The Battle of the Somme was also fought from July through September of the same year. Original estimates were 485,000 British and French casualties and 630,000 German casualties.

In 1927, Helene was merely 11 years old when the first "talkie" (a movie with music, songs, and talking), The Jazz Singer, was released. Al Jolson starred as a cantor's son who instead of following in his father's footsteps as expected, becomes a singer of popular songs. Banished by his father, they reconcile on his father's deathbed. It was a tear-jerker and audiences went wild - especially when they heard the songs. Thus begun the demise of silent films and the rise of "talkies".

In 1972, Helene was 56 years old when on November 7th, Richard Nixon won re-election, amidst the dawning knowledge of the Watergate scandal, by 60.7% to anti-war candidate George McGovern's 37.5%.

In 1985, at the age of 69 years old, Helene was alive when in May, a paper published in Nature by three British scientists reported that a huge hole was discovered in the ozone layer over the Antarctic. It was much larger than expected and is due to the use of manmade chemicals.

In 1997, in the year of Helene Hanff's passing, on August 31st, Princess Diana of Great Britain was killed when her car crashed into a pillar in the tunnel under the Pont de l'Alma bridge in Paris. The car she was riding in was trying to evade the paparazzi but it was also discovered later that the driver of the car, who was also killed, had three times the legal limit of alcohol which likely contributed to the accident.

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