- Born
- Died
- Birth nameArchibald Joseph Cronin
- Height6′ 2″ (1.88 m)
- British novelist A.J. Cronin was born in Dumbartonshire, Scotland, in 1896. In 1914 he entered Glasgow University to study medicine, but his studies were interrupted by World War I, in which he served in the British Navy as a surgeon sublieutenant. He received his M.B. and Ch.B. in 1919, and took a job as a ship's surgeon on a passenger liner. He afterwards took positions at several hospitals, and in 1921 he married and moved to south Wales to start a medical practice. He received his MD degree in 1925 from the University of Glasgow, and he moved to London to start a practice there.
In 1930 he began to have health problems, and while recuperating in the Scottish Highlands he wrote a story called "Hatter's Castle", which was published in 1931. It was a best-seller, was translated into five languages and later became a film (A.J. Cronin's Hatter's Castle (1942)). The book's success convinced Cronin to pursue writing full-time. Probably his most famous novel, "The Citadel", which was written in 1937, has been made into several theatrical films and a few television series. His other best-known work, "Keys of the Kingdom", was a story about a priest helping Chinese villagers survive under the brutal Japanese occupation of their country during World War II. It was also a best-seller and was made into a successful film starring Gregory Peck, The Keys of the Kingdom (1944).- IMDb Mini Biography By: frankfob2@yahoo.com
- SpouseAgnes Mary "May" Gibson(August 31, 1921 - January 6, 1981) (her death, 3 children)
- Studied Medicine at the University of Glasgow in Glasgow, Scotland, UK, beginning 1914, graduating, with highest honors, with the degree of MB, ChB, becoming a doctor in 1919.
- Won the National Book Award (U.S.), Favorite Novel of 1937, for "The Citadel," his best known work.
- In 1939, when Hollywood started optioning his novels for movie adaptations, he and his family moved to the US.
- In the late 1950s he and his wife moved to Switzerland and lived first in Lucerne and finally Montreux.
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