Grace Metalious (September 8, 1924 – February 25, 1964) was an American author, best known for her controversial novel Peyton Place.
Early life
She was born into poverty and a broken home as Marie Grace de Repentigny in the mill town of Manchester, New Hampshire. Blessed with the gift of imagination, she was driven to write from an early age. After graduating from Manchester Central High School, she married George Metalious in 1943, became a housewife and mother, lived in near squalor — and continued to write.
Peyton Place
In 1956, she captured the attention of an editor with Peyton Place, which became publishing's second blockbuster (following Gone with the Wind in 1936). Reviled by the clergy and dismissed by most critics, it nevertheless remained on The New York Times bestseller list for more than a year and became an international phenomenon.
The dark secrets of a small New England town made juicy reading for millions worldwide. Peyton Place appears to have been a combination of Gilmanton, New Hampshire, the village where she lived (and which resented notoriety), Laconia, New Hampshire, the only nearby town of comparable size to Peyton Place and site of Metalious' favorite bar, and Alton, New Hampshire, the town where a few years previously a daughter had murdered her incestuous abusive father. Hollywood lost no time in cashing in on the book's success — a year after its publication, Peyton Place was a major box office hit. A prime time television series that aired on ABC-TV from 1964 through 1969 was a ratings success as well.
Metalious — the "Pandora in bluejeans"[1] — was said by some to be a dreadful writer and a purveyor of filth, but her most famous book changed the publishing industry forever. With regard to her success, she said, "If I'm a lousy writer, then an awful lot of people have lousy taste,"[2] and as to the frankness of her work, she stated, "Even Tom Sawyer had a girlfriend, and to talk about adults without talking about their sex drives is like talking about a window without glass."[3]
Later works
Her other novels, all of which sold well but never achieved the same success as her first, were Return to Peyton Place (1959), The Tight White Collar (1961) and No Adam in Eden (1963).
Death
Metalious died of alcoholism on February 25, 1964. "If I had to do it over again," she once remarked, "it would be easier to be poor. Before I was successful, I was as happy as anyone gets."[4] She is buried in Smith Meeting House Cemetery in Gilmanton, New Hampshire.
Legacy
In 2006, Sandra Bullock was slated to star in and co-produce a biopic of Metalious' life.[5]
In 2007, the city of Manchester, the Manchester Historic Association, and the University of New Hampshire at Manchester honored Metalious with an in-depth examination of her life and most famous book. The celebration, which included lectures, readings of her work, and showings of the movie, marked the area's first public acknowledgment of its native daughter.[6]
See also
Notes
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