Harold Robbins, a great storyteller, the world’s 5th best-selling author, and by his own admission, ‘the greatest writer in plain English.’ He grabbed the attention of over 750 million readers worldwide and when I say grabbed, I mean he captivated his readers or listeners from the very first sentence….they tore through his pages as though they were with him as his fingers flew across his keyboard creating page-turning characters and a story that made them only want more.
He was an international playboy…draped with bikini-clad beauties from Beverly Hills to the South of France, Rome, and Acapulco. He was the ultimate jet-setter breaking the mold of the past. He wrote about the streets of poverty where he grew up and created ‘rags to riches’ stories from the bedroom to the boardroom.
His work speaks to every generation.
He wrote over 25 best-selling novels, sold more than 750 million copies in 42 languages and spent over 300 weeks combined on The New York Times best sellers list. His books were adapted into 13 commercially successful films and also television series that garnered numerous Oscar®, Golden Globe® and Primetime Emmy® nominations starring Steve McQueen, Elvis Presley, Laurence Olivier, Bette Davis, Robert Duvall, Tommy Lee Jones and more.
The self-proclaimed “world’s best writer in plain English,” Robbins wrote novels that resonated with audiences due to their graphic depictions of sex, violence, power and drugs, and the multilayered complexities of his characters, as evidenced by his best-selling novels Never Love a Stranger, The Carpetbaggers, Where Love Has Gone, and The Adventurers. He once said in an interview: “People make their own choices every day about what they are willing to do. We don’t have the right to judge them or label them. At least walk in their shoes before you do.”
Robbins’ personal life was as fascinating to the public as his novels. An enthusiastic participant in the social and sexual revolution of the 1960s, Robbins cultivated a “playboy” image and maintained friendships with stars including Frank Sinatra, Clint Eastwood, Tony Bennett, Sammy Davis, Jr., Dino De Laurentiis, Robert Evans, Ringo Starr, Barbara Eden, Lena Horne and Quincy Jones, and was one of the first novelists to be prominently featured in gossip magazines, earning him the title of “The World’s First Rock Star Author.”
