Winsor, Kathleen (1919—)

views updated

Winsor, Kathleen (1919—)

Novelist whose bestseller Forever Amber shocked 1940s America . Born on October 16, 1919, in Olivia, Minnesota; daughter of Myrtle Belle (Crowder) Winsor and Harold Lee Winsor; University of California, B.A., 1938; married Robert J. Herwig, in 1936 (divorced 1946); married Artie Shaw (the bandleader), in 1946 (divorced); married Arnold Robert Krakower (a lawyer), in 1949 (divorced 1953); married Paul A. Porter (a lawyer), in 1956 (died 1975).

Selected writings;

Forever Amber (1944); Star Money (1950); The Lovers (1952); America, with Love (1957); Wanderers Eastward, Wanderers West (1965); Calais (1979); Jacintha (1985); Robert and Arabella (1986).

Kathleen Winsor was born in Olivia, Minnesota, in 1919, the daughter of Myrtle Crowder Winsor and Harold Lee Winsor, who was in real estate. She graduated from the University of California in 1938 and began a career as a reporter and receptionist for the Oakland Tribune in Oakland, California. Winsor married four times, always retaining her maiden name. When her first husband Robert J. Herwig entered military service during World War II, she followed him to his various postings and occupied her time by reading over 350 books about English history before beginning her novel set in the period of the English Restoration, Forever Amber.

This book, her first, was published in 1944 and became a bestseller in 1945, selling millions of copies in the United States and abroad. Like Margaret Mitchell 's Gone With the Wind a decade earlier, Forever Amber enthralled a generation of readers. Its success has been attributed to its time of publication; it was released toward the end of World War II while many husbands and lovers remained overseas. Its heroine, Amber St. Claire, experiences an assortment of adventures—many of them sexual—at the court of Charles II until she eventually becomes the king's mistress. The book, considered shocking, was banned in Boston because it was "obscene and offensive," instigating several years of legal battles. "It wasn't such a daring book," said Winsor. "I wrote only two sexy passages, and my publishers took both of them out. They put in ellipses instead. In those days, you could solve everything with an ellipse." Despite the scandalous reviews and low recommendations from most critics, the book went through 11 printings and remained popular throughout the 20th century. In 1947, Hollywood added to the novel's mystique by filming Forever Amber. It was rumored that Winsor, herself a dark-haired beauty, would be its star. She instead served as a consultant on the film's production and Linda Darnell portrayed the heroine. Box-office receipts totaled $20 million.

Winsor wrote other novels; though some gained more applause from the critics than her first, none were particularly successful with the general public. Most were similar in formula to Forever Amber, with robustly independent heroines living beyond society's restrictions. Her novel Star Money, however, was autobiographical in tone. It featured as its central figure a beautiful author who writes a bestseller set in the 18th century, gains power in publishing, and has affairs with high-profile men. Calais repeated this structure, exchanging the author for an actress. America, with Love, one of Winsor's more favorably reviewed works, offered a different story line, focusing on a year in the life of a young girl growing up in a Western town during the 1930s. For this novel, Winsor was applauded for her ability to enter into the young mind. Other novels included Wanderers Eastward, Wanderers West (1965), Jacintha (1985), and Robert and Arabella (1986). Winsor also served as a story consultant for the television series "Dreams in the Dust" in 1971.