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Helene Hanff 1916 - 1997

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

Helene Hanff

New York, New York County, NY 10021

April 15, 1916

April 9, 1997

Female

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Helene Hanff Helene Hanff (1916 - 1997)

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Helene Hanff's History: 1916 - 1997

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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.
04/15

1916

Birthday

April 15, 1916

Birthdate

Unknown

Birthplace

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04/9

1997

Death

April 9, 1997

Death date

Unknown
Cause of death

Unknown
Death location

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