Cormac McCarthy Birthday & Fun Facts

Cormac McCarthy Birthday Highlights

Birth Name

Charles McCarthy Jr.

Place Of Birth

Providence, USA

Age

90 years old

Birth Date

July 20 1933

Cormac McCarthy Facts

Child Star?

no

Occupation

Writer

Education & Qualifications

University of Tennessee

Net Worth

$35,000,000

Children

Cullen McCarthy, John McCarthy

Cormac McCarthy is often regarded as one of the greatest American contemporary writers.

A major figure in American literature, McCarthy has contributed around 12 novels, two plays, two short stories, and five screenplays during his career. Famous for his unique writing style, McCarthy's graphic depiction of violence, sparse use of punctuation, quotation marks, and incorporation of attribution in his works deserve a special mention.

Often characterized as Nihilistic, McCarthy's novels usually consisted of depictions of explicit violence. A lot of literature experts criticized these depictions and it was seen that McCarthy's work regularly comprised a bleak outlook of the future. Being fluent in Spanish, his works displayed a multicultural and bilingual narrative.

What is Cormac McCarthy’s net worth?

Pulitzer prize winner, Cormac McCarthy has garnered his net worth by establishing himself as a talented novelist through his works like 'No Country For Old Men', 'Blood Meridian', 'All the Pretty Horses', and 'Southern Gothic'. His current net worth is estimated to be around $35 million.

How much does Cormac McCarthy earn per year?

Cormac McCarthy earns through various sources. Based on all the sources of his income, he earns around $400,000 per year.

How tall is Cormac McCarthy?

Cormac McCarthy is around 5 ft 11 in (180 cm) tall.

How old is Cormac McCarthy?

Born on July 20, 1933, in Providence, Rhode Island, Cormac McCarthy will turn 89 years old in July 2022.

Cormac McCarthy was born on July 20, 1933, as Charles Joseph McCarthy Jr. to Gladys Christina McGrail and Charles Joseph McCarthy. He was one of the six children of his parents and belonged to a family of Irish Catholics. Born in Providence, Rhode Island, the family relocated to Knoxville, Tennessee in 1937.

McCarthy's father worked as a lawyer in the Tennessee Valley Authority. According to a conversation in the New York Times archive, McCarthy said that during his childhood people considered him and his family to be rich. This was because when McCarthy and his family shifted into a house on Martin Mill Pike in South Knoxville, people around them were living in one or two-bedroom shacks.

It is also known that as a child, McCarthy attended the St. Mary's Parochial School and Knoxville Catholic High School. One of his childhood friends was Jim Long who later appeared as J-Bone in his semi-autobiographical novel 'Suttree'. When he was young, McCarthy served as an altar boy at Knoxville's Church of the Immaculate Conception.

After graduating from high school, Cormac McCarthy attended the University of Tennessee in 1951. However, in 1953, he dropped out of the University to join the United States Air Force. While stationed in Alaska, McCarthy delved deeper into the world of books and literature. He spent most of his time reading novels and books.

After his return to the university in 1957, Cormac McCarthy published two stories under the pen name C.J McCarthy, Jr. in his college literary magazine The Phoenix. The two stories were titled 'A Drowning Incident' and 'Wake for Susan'. These stories won him two consecutive Ingram-Merrill Awards for creative writing in 1959 and 1960. However, in 1959, McCarthy finally dropped out of the university and shifted to Chicago.

After shifting to Chicago, McCarthy changed his first name from Charles to Cormac for writing purposes. Interestingly, his decision to change his first name was based on his willingness to avoid any sort of confusion with ventriloquist Edgar Burgen's dummy Charlie McCarthy. The only reason he chose his first name to be Cormac was that it was a nickname given to him by his aunts.

Who is Cormac McCarthy dating?

Currently, Cormac McCarthy is not dating anyone.

Who was Cormac McCarthy previously married to?

In 1961, Cormac McCarthy married his fellow student Lee Holleman. Since the two of them were still studying, they could not afford a good place to live in. According to Lee McCarthy's obituary in the newspaper the Bakersfield Californian, McCarthy, along with Lee Holleman moved to a shack with no heat or running water in the foothills of the Smoky Mountains outside of Knoxville.

In 1962, the couple gave birth to a son named Cullen McCarthy. After the birth of Cullen McCarthy, things started to get difficult for Lee. While Lee cared for and tended to the baby and took care of the household chores, Cormac insisted her to get a day job so that he could focus on writing his novel. Unhappy with her life, Lee moved out of the shack and left for Wyoming. She filed for a divorce with Cormac McCarthy in Wyoming.

Random House published Cormac McCarthy's first novel 'The Orchard Keeper' in 1965, which he wrote while working at an auto-parts warehouse in Chicago. After the book's success, McCarthy lived in French Quarters in New Orleans. However, due to failure in non-payment of rent, he was expelled. In the summer of 1965, using his Traveling Fellowship award from The American Academy of Arts and Letters, he shipped out abroad.

On the ship, he met Anne DeLisle, an English woman who was working as a dancer and singer there. Cormac McCarthy married Anne in 1966 in England, the same year he received the Rockefeller Foundation Grant. In 1969, the couple moved to Louisville where they lived in a dairy barn. According to Anne, the two of them lived in absolute poverty and Cormac refused to accept many teaching offers saying everything he had to say was on paper. While living at the barn, McCarthy wrote his novel 'Child of Barn'. However, in 1976, McCarthy separated from Anne and moved to El Paso, Texas.

In 1985, Cormac McCarthy wrote one of his best works, a violent frontier tale of a 14-year-old boy who joins a group of outlaws who hunt Native Americans named 'Blood Meridian'. After garnering success and acclaim for his books and other writings, Cormac McCarthy married his third wife Jennifer Winkley in 1998. In the late '90s, McCarthy moved to the Tesuque with his wife Jennifer Winkley and their son John McCarthy. However, in 2006, Jennifer Winkley and Cormac McCarthy separated.

Best Known For...

• Cormac McCarthy has won various literary and academy awards throughout his career, the most notable of which being, the National Book Award for Fiction and the National Book Critics Circle Award for 'All the Pretty Horses' in 1992. The Pulitzer Prize for fiction for his best seller 'The Road' in 2007.
• Apart from that, McCarthy's name has been discussed as a probable name for a nominee for the Nobel Prize. Currently, he has collaborated with the Santa Fe Institute of America for the publishing of various journals.
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