Kathleen Norris
Kathleen Thompson Norris (July 16, 1880, San Francisco, California – January 18, 1966, Palo Alto, California) was an American novelist and wife of fellow writer Charles Norris, whom she wed in 1909. Her brother-in-law was writer Frank Norris. Kathleen Norris was political active in the America First Committee and gave several speeches on the same platform with Charles Lindbergh in an attempt to keep the US out of war.
Contents
Life
Career
Norris was educated in a special course at the University of California and began her career as a newspaper writer in San Francisco. She started writing stories, and eventually had several published in magazines before turning her attention to novel-writing. Norris wrote many popular romance novels that some considered sentimental and honest in their prose.
She was the highest-paid female writer of her time, and many of her novels are held in high regard today. Many of her novels were set in California, particularly the San Francisco area. They feature detailed descriptions of the upper-class lifestyle. After 1910 she contributed to the Atlantic, The American Magazine, McClure's, Everybody's, Ladies' Home Journal and Woman's Home Companion.
At least two of her novels were made into films: My Best Girl (1927), starring Mary Pickford and Manhattan Love Song (1934), which was released under the title Change of Heart, starring Janet Gaynor.
Political activism
In the 1930s Kathleen Norris spoke in favor of disarmament. She became a charter member of the America First Committee, which opposed American intervention in World War II and headed the National Legion of Mothers of America. After the war she opposed the testing of nuclear weapons.[1]
Family
In 1919, the family moved to a ranch in the Santa Cruz Mountains near Saratoga, California, adjacent to the Villa Montalvo estate of James Duval Phelan. They later built a house in Palo Alto and spent summers at the ranch. Kathleen's sister Teresa, who had married William Rose Benét and borne three children, died in 1919. Kathleen fought for and eventually obtained guardianship of the two nieces and a nephew: Rosemary, Kathleen Anne and James Benét. Her granddaughter Kathleen Norris (1935–1967) was the second wife of Prince Andrew Romanov.
Selected bibliography
- Mother (1911; new edition, 1913)
- The Rich Mrs. Burgoyne (1912)
- Poor Dear Margaret Kirby (1913)
- The Treasure (1914)
- Saturday's Child (1914)
- The Story Of Julia Page (1915)
- The Heart of Rachel (1916)
- Martie the Unconquered (1917)
- Josselyn's Wife (1918)
- Harriet and the Piper (1920)
- The Beloved Woman (1921)
- Little Ships (1925)
- The Sea Gull (1925?)
- The Foolish Virgin (1927)
- Younger Sister (1928)
- Second Hand Wife (1932)
- Maiden Voyage (1934)
- Beauty's Daughter (1935), adapted for the 1935 motion picture Navy Wife
- Shining Windows (1935)
- Bread into Roses (1936)
- Over at the Crowleys (1941)
- The Venables (1941)
See also
External links
- Guide to the Norris Family Papers at The Bancroft Library
- Kathleen Norris entries as found in Library of Congress Online Catalog search
- Kathleen Norris Obituary, New York Times
- Kathleen Norris Obituary, TIME Magazine
- Kathleen Norris at the Internet Movie Database
- Works by Kathleen Thompson Norris at Project Gutenberg
References
- ↑ Notable American Women: The Modern Period : A Biographical Dictionary, Volume 4, page 510
