James Agee

James Agee is best known for his distinguished writing. Much of his work was published posthumously as Agee died at age 45. For one such novel, A Death in the Family (1957), the late Agee was awarded the Pulitzer Prize. In addition to writing fiction, Agee also wrote non-fiction and was a film critic for Time and The Nation in the 1940s (later these reviews were compiled to form one volume of the two-volume book Agee on Film; the second volume is comprised of five Hollywood scripts). In the late 1940s he abandoned criticism in favor of screenwriting. and in 1951he co-wrote John Huston's classic The African Queen. He is also responsible for the disturbing cult classic The Night of the Hunter (1955). Agee began his writing career as an editor for the Harvard periodical, The Advocate. While studying there, he also won the university's coveted poetry prize. After graduation, he began working as a feature writer for Fortune magazine. In 1934, he published a volume of poetry.

~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide