Alex Haley

American biographer, screenwriter, and novelist (1921–1992)

OverviewAI-generated

Alexander Murray Palmer Haley, known as Alex Haley, was an American and Malian journalist, writer, historian, and novelist. Born in Ithaca on August 11, 1921, he served as a chief petty officer during World War II. His career began in 1960, and he is noted for the work *Roots: The Saga of an American Family*. Haley received the Spingarn Medal, Anisfield-Wolf Book Awards, and the Ellis Island Medal of Honor.

Haley was educated at Elizabeth City State University and Alcorn State University. He was an African American male who spoke English. He died of natural causes due to a myocardial infarction in Seattle on February 10, 1992.

Synthesized by Vinony from 43 facts across 9 sources: Wikidata, Crossref, Open Library, MusicBrainz, Last.fm, TMDb, Wikiquote, Vinony collections, Vinony graph. Generated from structured data (not the Wikipedia text) and checked against those facts — may still contain errors.

Person · Open Library

Born: August 11, 1921
Died: February 10, 1992
Works: 97

Top works

根
Daufuskie Island, a photographic essay
Autobiography of Malcolm X (SparkNotes Literature Guide) (SparkNotes Literature Guide)
Prentice Hall Literature--Timeless Voices, Timeless Themes--The American Experience
Yiltiz

via Open Library + Wikidata

Film & TV

Ithaca, New York, USA

Alexander Murray Palmer Haley (August 11, 1921 – February 10, 1992) was an African-American writer. He is best known as the author of Roots: The Saga of an American Family and the coauthor of The Autobiography of Malcolm X. Description above from the Wikipedia article Alex Haley, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.

Known for

Papa Césaire — Self2009
Malcolm X: Make It Plain — Self1994
Hugh Hefner: Once Upon a Time — Self (archive footage)1992
Roots: The Gift — Self - presenter1988
American Experience — Self - Biographer1988
Aimé Césaire: The Mask of Words — Self1987
EPCOT Center: The Opening Celebration — Self1982
Apostrophes — Self1975
The Mike Douglas Show — Self1961
Bambi — Self1948

via TMDB

Key facts

Born: Alexander Murray Palmer Haley , ( 1921-08-11 ) August 11, 1921, Ithaca, New York , U.S.
Died: February 10, 1992 (1992-02-10) (aged 70), Seattle , Washington, U.S.
Occupation: Coast Guardsman, writer
Years active: 1939–1992
Spouse: Nannie Branch ( married"}]]}'>m. 1941 ; divorced"}]]}'>div. 1964 ) , Juliette Collins ( married"}]]}'>m. 1964 ; divorced"}]]}'>div. 1972 ) , Myran Lewis ( married"}]]}'>m. 1977 )
Children: Lydia, William Alex, Dolores, and Alexander Murray Palmer Jr.
Relatives: Simon Haley (father), George W. Haley (brother)
Allegiance: United States
Branch: United States Coast Guard
Service years: 1939–1959
Rank: Chief Petty Officer

via Wikipedia infobox

Wikidata facts

Instance of: human
Gender: male
Citizenship: Mali
Place of birth: Ithaca
Place of death: Seattle
Occupation: screenwriter
Educated at: Alcorn State University
Languages spoken: English language
Notable work: Roots: The Saga of an American Family
Conflict: World War II
Military rank: chief petty officer
Image: Alex Haley speaker at University of Texas at Arlington's Texas Hall (10011730).jpg

Show 10 more facts

cause of death: myocardial infarction
date of birth: 1921-08-11
date of death: 1992-02-10
Commons category: Alex Haley
manner of death: natural causes
ethnic group: African Americans
start of work period: 1960-00-00
nickname: Alex
name in native language: Alexander Murray Palmer Haley
writing language: English language

Sources (9)

via Wikidata · CC0

~18 min read

Encyclopedic overview

Alexander Murray Palmer Haley (August 11, 1921 – February 10, 1992) was an American writer and the author of the 1976 book Roots: The Saga of an American Family. ABC adapted the book as a television miniseries of the same name and aired it in 1977 to a record-breaking audience of 130 million viewers. In the United States, the book and miniseries raised the public awareness of black American history and inspired a broad interest in genealogy and family history. Haley's first book was The Autobiography of Malcolm X, published in 1965, a collaboration through numerous lengthy interviews with Malcolm X.

He was working on a second family history novel at his death. Haley had requested that David Stevens, a screenwriter, complete it; the book was published as Queen: The Story of an American Family. It was adapted as a miniseries, Alex Haley's Queen, broadcast in 1993.

Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Alex Haley” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.