Leon Marcus Uris was an American novelist, known for his historical fiction and the deep research that went into his novels. His two bestselling books were Exodus and Trinity . Leon Uris was born in Baltimore, Maryland, the son of Jewish-American parents Wolf William and Anna Uris. His father, a Polish-born immigrant, was a paperhanger, then a storekeeper. His mother was first-generation Russian American. William spent a year in Palestine after World War I before entering the United States. He derived his surname from Yerushalmi, meaning "man of Jerusalem". "He was basically a failure",... Uris later said of his father. "I think his personality was formed by the harsh realities of being a Jew in Czarist Russia. I think failure formed his character, made him bitter." At age six, Uris reportedly wrote an operetta inspired by the death of his dog. Uris attended schools in Norfolk, Virginia and Baltimore, but never graduated from high school, and failed English three times.
more
| Birthdate: | August 3, 1924 |
| Birthplace: | Baltimore, Maryland |
| Date of death: | June 21, 2003 |
| Religion: | Judaism |
| Also known as: | Leon Marcus Uris |