
Birthday: May 21, 1914 (Gemini)
Born In: Vilnius, Lithuania
Romain Gary was one of France’s most original writers, known for authoring novels under various nom de plumes. After training as an aviator, he served in the French Air Force, but fled to England during World War II. His stint of 25 successful sorties while working for Free French Forces won him a number of bravery honors and medals. It was during this time that he started writing, alongside working as a French diplomat in Bulgaria and Switzerland, before moving to the US. Here, he took up writing full-time and went on to become an excellent storyteller through his much-acclaimed novels and essays. During his entire 35-year literary career, he is said to have written over 30 novels, essays and memoirs, in English and French, under four different pseudonyms, though he is believed to have used a couple more, like Rene Deville and John Markham Beach. This prolific novelist authored some highly popular novels, including ‘Le Grand Vestiaire’, ‘La Promesse de l’aube’, ‘La Danse de Gengis Cohn’, ‘Clair de femme’, and ‘Pseudo’. He is credited for being the only person to be awarded the French literary prize Prix Goncourt twice, for ‘Les racines du ciel’ under his original name and ‘La vie devant soi’ under his pseudonym Emile Ajar.
French Celebrities Born In May
Also Known As: Roman Kacew, Émile Ajar, Fosco Sinibaldi, Shatan Bogat
Died At Age: 66
Spouse/Ex-: Jean Seberg, Lesley Blanch
father: Arieh-Leib Kacew
mother: Mina Owczyńska
children: Alexandre Diego Gary, Nina Hart Gary
Born Country: France
Died on: December 2, 1980
place of death: Paris, France
Ancestry: Polish French
Cause of Death: Suicide
awards: Prix Goncourt
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