George Plimpton
Encyclopedia
- For the publisher and grandfather of the author, see George Arthur PlimptonGeorge Arthur PlimptonGeorge Arthur Plimpton was an American publisher and philanthropist.Plimpton was born in Walpole, Massachusetts, the son and grandson of iron manufacturers. He graduated from the Phillips Exeter Academy in 1873 and Amherst College in 1876...
George Ames Plimpton (18 March 1927 – 25 September 2003) was an American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
journalist
Journalist
A journalist collects and distributes news and other information. A journalist's work is referred to as journalism.A reporter is a type of journalist who researchs, writes, and reports on information to be presented in mass media, including print media , electronic media , and digital media A...
, writer
Writer
A writer is a person who produces literature, such as novels, short stories, plays, screenplays, poetry, or other literary art. Skilled writers are able to use language to portray ideas and images....
, editor
Literary editor
A literary editor is an editor in a newspaper, magazine or similar publication who deals with aspects concerning literature and books, especially reviews. A literary editor may also help with editing books themselves, by providing services such as proof reading, copy-editing, and literary...
, and actor
Actor
An actor is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...
. He is widely known for his sports writing and for helping to found The Paris Review.
Early life
George Ames Plimpton was born in New York CityNew York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
on March 18, 1927, and spent his childhood in New York City, growing up in an apartment duplex on Manhattan's Upper East Side
Upper East Side
The Upper East Side is a neighborhood in the borough of Manhattan in New York City, between Central Park and the East River. The Upper East Side lies within an area bounded by 59th Street to 96th Street, and the East River to Fifth Avenue-Central Park...
located at 1165 Fifth Avenue. During the summers, he lived in West Hills
West Hills, New York
West Hills is a hamlet and census-designated place in the town of Huntington, Suffolk County, New York, United States. The population was 5,607 at the 2000 census...
, a hamlet located in the Town of Huntington
Huntington, New York
The Town of Huntington is one of ten towns in Suffolk County, New York, USA. Founded in 1653, it is located on the north shore of Long Island in northwestern Suffolk County, with Long Island Sound to its north and Nassau County adjacent to the west. Huntington is part of the New York metropolitan...
in Suffolk County, New York
Suffolk County, New York
Suffolk County is a county located in the U.S. state of New York on the eastern portion of Long Island. As of the 2010 census, the population was 1,493,350. It was named for the county of Suffolk in England, from which its earliest settlers came...
. He was the son of Francis Taylor Pearsons Plimpton, and the grandson of Frances Taylor Pearsons and George Arthur Plimpton
George Arthur Plimpton
George Arthur Plimpton was an American publisher and philanthropist.Plimpton was born in Walpole, Massachusetts, the son and grandson of iron manufacturers. He graduated from the Phillips Exeter Academy in 1873 and Amherst College in 1876...
. His grandfather was the founder of the Ginn publishing company and a philanthropist
Philanthropist
A philanthropist is someone who engages in philanthropy; that is, someone who donates his or her time, money, and/or reputation to charitable causes...
. His father was a successful corporate lawyer and a founding partner of the law firm Debevoise and Plimpton. He was appointed by President John F. Kennedy
John F. Kennedy
John Fitzgerald "Jack" Kennedy , often referred to by his initials JFK, was the 35th President of the United States, serving from 1961 until his assassination in 1963....
as U.S. deputy ambassador to the United Nations
United Nations
The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...
serving from 1961 to 1965.
His mother was Pauline Ames, the daughter of botanist Oakes Ames
Oakes Ames (botanist)
Oakes Ames was an American botanist specializing in orchids. His estate is now the Borderland State Park in Massachusetts....
and artist Blanche Ames
Blanche Ames Ames
Blanche Ames Ames was an artist, inventor, writer, and prominent supporter of women's suffrage and birth control. Born Blanche Ames in Lowell, Massachusetts, she was the daughter of Civil War General and Mississippi Governor Adelbert Ames and Blanche Butler Ames and the sister of Adelbert Ames...
. Both of Plimpton's maternal grandparents were born with the surname, Ames; his mother was the granddaughter of Medal of Honor
Medal of Honor
The Medal of Honor is the highest military decoration awarded by the United States government. It is bestowed by the President, in the name of Congress, upon members of the United States Armed Forces who distinguish themselves through "conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his or her...
recipient Adelbert Ames
Adelbert Ames
Adelbert Ames was an American sailor, soldier, and politician. He served with distinction as a Union Army general during the American Civil War. As a Radical Republican and a Carpetbagger, he was military governor, Senator and civilian governor in Reconstruction-era Mississippi...
, an American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
sailor, soldier, and politician, and Oliver Ames
Oliver Ames
Oliver Ames was a U.S. political figure and financier. He was the 35th Governor of Massachusetts . He was the son of Oakes Ames , a United States Congressman who was censured in the Credit Mobilier scandal, and the nephew of Oliver Ames, Jr..-Biography:Ames was born in North Easton, Massachusetts...
, a U.S. political figure and the 35th Governor
Governor of Massachusetts
The Governor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts is the executive magistrate of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, United States. The current governor is Democrat Deval Patrick.-Constitutional role:...
of Massachusetts
Massachusetts
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010...
(1887–1890). She was also the great-granddaughter on her father's side of Oakes Ames (1804–1873), an industrialist and congressman who was impeached in the Crédit Mobilier scandal
Crédit Mobilier of America scandal
The Crédit Mobilier scandal of 1872 involved the Union Pacific Railroad and the Crédit Mobilier of America construction company in the building of the First Transcontinental Railroad. The distribution of Crédit Mobilier shares of stock by Congressman Oakes Ames along with cash bribes to...
; and Governor-General of New Orleans Benjamin Franklin Butler
Benjamin Franklin Butler (politician)
Benjamin Franklin Butler was an American lawyer and politician who represented Massachusetts in the United States House of Representatives and later served as the 33rd Governor of Massachusetts....
, an American lawyer
Law of the United States
The law of the United States consists of many levels of codified and uncodified forms of law, of which the most important is the United States Constitution, the foundation of the federal government of the United States...
and politician
Politics of the United States
The United States is a federal constitutional republic, in which the President of the United States , Congress, and judiciary share powers reserved to the national government, and the federal government shares sovereignty with the state governments.The executive branch is headed by the President...
who represented Massachusetts
Massachusetts
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010...
in the United States House of Representatives
United States House of Representatives
The United States House of Representatives is one of the two Houses of the United States Congress, the bicameral legislature which also includes the Senate.The composition and powers of the House are established in Article One of the Constitution...
and later served as the 33rd Governor of Massachusetts
Governor of Massachusetts
The Governor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts is the executive magistrate of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, United States. The current governor is Democrat Deval Patrick.-Constitutional role:...
.
George had three siblings: Francis Taylor Pearsons Plimpton Jr., Oakes Ames Plimpton, and Sarah Gay Plimpton.
Education
He attended St. Bernard's SchoolSt. Bernard's School
St. Bernard's School, founded in 1904 by Francis Tabor and John Jenkins, is a private all-male elementary school on Manhattan's Upper East Side. St. Bernard's offers motivated young boys of diverse backgrounds an exceptionally thorough, rigorous, and enjoyable introduction to learning and...
, Phillips Exeter Academy
Phillips Exeter Academy
Phillips Exeter Academy is a private secondary school located in Exeter, New Hampshire, in the United States.Exeter is noted for its application of Harkness education, a system based on a conference format of teacher and student interaction, similar to the Socratic method of learning through asking...
, and Daytona Beach Mainland High School, where he received his high school diploma before entering Harvard University
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
in July 1944. He wrote for the Harvard Lampoon
Harvard Lampoon
The Harvard Lampoon is an undergraduate humor publication founded in 1876 at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts.-Overview:Published since 1876, The Harvard Lampoon is the world's longest continually published humor magazine. It is also the second longest-running English-language humor...
, was a member of the Hasty Pudding Club
Hasty Pudding Club
The Hasty Pudding Club is a social club for Harvard students. It was founded by Nymphus Hatch, a junior at Harvard College, in 1770. The club is named for the traditional American dish that the founding members ate at their first meeting...
, Pi Eta and the Porcellian Club
Porcellian Club
The Porcellian Club is a men's-only final club at Harvard University, sometimes called the Porc or the P.C. The year of founding is usually given as 1791, when a group began meeting under the name "the Argonauts," or as 1794, the year of the roast pig dinner at which the club, known first as "the...
. His field of concentration was English. Plimpton entered Harvard as a member of the Class of 1948, but did not graduate until 1950 due to intervening military service. He was also an accomplished birdwatcher.
His studies were interrupted by military service lasting from 1945 to 1948, during which he served as a tank
Tank
A tank is a tracked, armoured fighting vehicle designed for front-line combat which combines operational mobility, tactical offensive, and defensive capabilities...
driver in Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
for the U.S. Army. After graduating from Harvard, he attended King's College
King's College, Cambridge
King's College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge, England. The college's full name is "The King's College of our Lady and Saint Nicholas in Cambridge", but it is usually referred to simply as "King's" within the University....
at Cambridge University
University of Cambridge
The University of Cambridge is a public research university located in Cambridge, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest university in both the United Kingdom and the English-speaking world , and the seventh-oldest globally...
in England. He earned a second bachelor's degree at Cambridge and took a master's in English there in 1952.
Career
In 1953, Plimpton joined the influential literary journal The Paris ReviewParis Review
The Paris Review is a literary quarterly founded in 1953 by Harold L. Humes, Peter Matthiessen and George Plimpton. Plimpton edited the Review from its founding until his death in 2003. In its first five years, The Paris Review published works by Jack Kerouac, Philip Larkin, V. S...
, founded by Peter Matthiessen
Peter Matthiessen
Peter Matthiessen is a two-time National Book Award-winning American novelist and non-fiction writer, as well as an environmental activist...
, Thomas H. Guinzburg, and Harold L. Humes
Harold L. Humes
Harold Louis Humes, Jr. was known as HL Humes in his books, and usually as "Doc" Humes in life. He was the originator of The Paris Review literary magazine, author of two novels in the late 1950s, and a gregarious fixture of the cultural scene in Paris, London, and New York in the 1950s and early...
, becoming its first editor in chief. This periodical carries great weight in the literary world, but has never been financially strong; for its first half-century, it was allegedly largely financed by its publishers and by Plimpton. Two articles by Richard Cummings, "An American in Paris" (The American Conservative) and "The Fiction of the State" (Lobster), disclose that the CIA provided funds for The Paris Review, using publisher Sadruddin Aga Khan's foundation as a conduit, and that Plimpton was an "agent of influence" for the CIA. Peter Matthiessen took the magazine over from Harold Humes and ousted him as editor, replacing him with Plimpton, using it as his cover for his CIA activities. Plimpton was also associated with the literary magazine in Paris, Merlin, which folded because the State Department withdrew its support. Poet laureate
Poet Laureate
A poet laureate is a poet officially appointed by a government and is often expected to compose poems for state occasions and other government events...
Donald Hall
Donald Hall
Donald Hall is an American poet. He was appointed Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress in 2006.-Personal life:...
, who had met Plimpton at Exeter was Poetry Editor. One of the magazine's most notable discoveries was author Terry Southern
Terry Southern
Terry Southern was an American author, essayist, screenwriter and university lecturer, noted for his distinctive satirical style...
, who was living in Paris at the time and formed a lifelong friendship with Plimpton, along with future classical and jazz pioneer David Amram
David Amram
David Amram is an American composer, musician, conductor, and writer. As a classical composer and performer, his integration of jazz , ethnic and folk music has led him to work with the likes of Charlie Parker, Thelonious Monk, Dizzy Gillespie, Lionel Hampton, Willie Nelson, Langston...
.
At Harvard, Plimpton was a classmate and close personal friend of Robert Kennedy. Plimpton, along with former decathlete
Decathlon
The decathlon is a combined event in athletics consisting of ten track and field events. The word decathlon is of Greek origin . Events are held over two consecutive days and the winners are determined by the combined performance in all. Performance is judged on a points system in each event, not...
Rafer Johnson
Rafer Johnson
Rafer Lewis Johnson is an American former decathlete and film actor.-Biography:Johnson was born in Hillsboro, Texas, but the family moved to Kingsburg, California, when he was nine. For a while, they were the only black family in the town. A versatile athlete, he played on Kingsburg High School's...
, was credited with helping wrestle Sirhan Sirhan
Sirhan Sirhan
Sirhan Bishara Sirhan is a Jordanian citizen who was convicted for the assassination of United States Senator Robert F. Kennedy. He is serving a life sentence at Pleasant Valley State Prison in Coalinga, California.Sirhan was a Christian Arab born in Jerusalem who strongly opposed Israel...
to the ground when Kennedy was assassinated following his victory in the 1968 California Democratic primary at the former Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
.
Outside the literary world, Plimpton was famous for competing in professional sporting events and then recording the experience from the point of view of an amateur. In 1960, prior to the second of baseball
Baseball
Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each. The aim is to score runs by hitting a thrown ball with a bat and touching a series of four bases arranged at the corners of a ninety-foot diamond...
's two All-Star
Major League Baseball All-Star Game
The Major League Baseball All-Star Game, also known as the "Midsummer Classic", is an annual baseball game between players from the National League and the American League, currently selected by a combination of fans, players, coaches, and managers...
games, Plimpton pitched against the National League
National League
The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the National League , is the older of two leagues constituting Major League Baseball, and the world's oldest extant professional team sports league. Founded on February 2, 1876, to replace the National Association of Professional...
. His experience was captured in the book Out of My League. (He intended to face both line-ups, but tired badly and was relieved by Ralph Houk
Ralph Houk
Ralph George Houk , nicknamed The Major, was an American catcher, coach, manager, and front office executive in Major League Baseball...
.) Plimpton sparred for three rounds with boxing
Boxing
Boxing, also called pugilism, is a combat sport in which two people fight each other using their fists. Boxing is supervised by a referee over a series of between one to three minute intervals called rounds...
greats Archie Moore
Archie Moore
Archie Moore, born Archibald Lee Wright , was light heavyweight world boxing champion who had one of the longest professional careers in the history of that sport....
and Sugar Ray Robinson
Sugar Ray Robinson
Sugar Ray Robinson was an African-American professional boxer. Frequently cited as the greatest boxer of all time, Robinson's performances in the welterweight and middleweight divisions prompted sportswriters to create "pound for pound" rankings, where they compared fighters regardless of weight...
, while on assignment for Sports Illustrated
Sports Illustrated
Sports Illustrated is an American sports media company owned by media conglomerate Time Warner. Its self titled magazine has over 3.5 million subscribers and is read by 23 million adults each week, including over 18 million men. It was the first magazine with circulation over one million to win the...
.
In 1963, Plimpton attended preseason training with the Detroit Lions
Detroit Lions
The Detroit Lions are a professional American football team based in Detroit, Michigan. They are members of the North Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League , and play their home games at Ford Field in Downtown Detroit.Originally based in Portsmouth, Ohio and...
of the National Football League
National Football League
The National Football League is the highest level of professional American football in the United States, and is considered the top professional American football league in the world. It was formed by eleven teams in 1920 as the American Professional Football Association, with the league changing...
as a backup quarterback
Quarterback
Quarterback is a position in American and Canadian football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive team and line up directly behind the offensive line...
, and ran a few plays in an intrasquad scrimmage. These events were recalled in his best-known book Paper Lion
Paper Lion
Paper Lion, published in 1966, is a non-fiction book by prominent American writer George Plimpton.In 1960, Plimpton, not a professional athlete, arranged to pitch to a lineup of baseball stars in an All-Star exhibition, presumably to answer the question, "How would the average man off of the street...
, which was later adapted into a feature film starring Alan Alda
Alan Alda
Alphonso Joseph D'Abruzzo , better known as Alan Alda, is an American actor, director, screenwriter, and author. A six-time Emmy Award and Golden Globe Award winner, he is best known for his role as Hawkeye Pierce in the TV series M*A*S*H...
, released in 1968. Plimpton revisited pro football in 1971, this time joining the Baltimore Colts
Indianapolis Colts
The Indianapolis Colts are a professional American football team based in Indianapolis. They are currently members of the South Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League ....
and seeing action in an exhibition game against his previous team, the Lions. These experiences served as the basis of another football book, Mad Ducks and Bears, although much of the book dealt with the off-field escapades of football friends such as Alex Karras
Alex Karras
Alexander George "Alex" Karras , nicknamed "The Mad Duck", is a former football player, professional wrestler, and actor, best known for his stint with the Detroit Lions of the National Football League from 1958–1962 and 1964-1970 and for his role as Mongo in the film Blazing Saddles...
and Bobby Layne
Bobby Layne
Robert Lawrence "Bobby" Layne was an American football quarterback who played for 15 seasons in the National Football League. He played for the Chicago Bears in 1948, the New York Bulldogs in 1949, the Detroit Lions from 1950–1958, and the Pittsburgh Steelers from 1958–1962...
. Another sports book, Open Net, saw him train as an ice hockey
Ice hockey
Ice hockey, often referred to as hockey, is a team sport played on ice, in which skaters use wooden or composite sticks to shoot a hard rubber puck into their opponent's net. The game is played between two teams of six players each. Five members of each team skate up and down the ice trying to take...
goalie with the Boston Bruins
Boston Bruins
The Boston Bruins are a professional ice hockey team based in Boston, Massachusetts, USA. They are members of the Northeast Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League . The team has been in existence since 1924, and is the league's third-oldest team and its oldest in the...
, even playing part of a National Hockey League
National Hockey League
The National Hockey League is an unincorporated not-for-profit association which operates a major professional ice hockey league of 30 franchised member clubs, of which 7 are currently located in Canada and 23 in the United States...
preseason game.
Plimpton's classic The Bogey Man chronicles his attempt to play professional golf on the PGA Tour
PGA Tour
The PGA Tour is the organizer of the main men's professional golf tours in the United States and North America...
during the Nicklaus
Jack Nicklaus
Jack William Nicklaus , nicknamed "The Golden Bear", is an American professional golfer. He won 18 career major championships on the PGA Tour over a span of 25 years and is widely regarded as one of the greatest professional golfers of all time. In addition to his 18 Majors, he was runner-up a...
and Palmer
Arnold Palmer
Arnold Daniel Palmer is an American professional golfer, who is generally regarded as one of the greatest players in the history of men's professional golf. He has won numerous events on both the PGA Tour and Champions Tour, dating back to 1955...
era of the 1960s. Among other challenges for Sports Illustrated, he attempted to play top-level bridge
Contract bridge
Contract bridge, usually known simply as bridge, is a trick-taking card game using a standard deck of 52 playing cards played by four players in two competing partnerships with partners sitting opposite each other around a small table...
, and spent some time as a high-wire circus performer
Tightrope walking
Tightrope walking is the art of walking along a thin wire or rope, usually at a great height. One or more artists performs in front of an audience or as a publicity stunt...
. Some of these events, such as his stint with the Colts, and an attempt at stand-up comedy, were presented on the ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
television network as a series of specials. After being demolished at tennis by Pancho Gonzales
Pancho Gonzales
Ricardo Alonso González , generally known as Richard "Pancho" Gonzales was an American tennis player. He was the world no. 1 professional tennis player for an unequalled eight years in the 1950s and early 1960s...
, he wrote that he considered himself to be a fairly accomplished tennis player and that the drubbing by Gonzales was the most surprising of his ventures against the great athletes of his time.
A 6 November 1971 cartoon in The New Yorker
The New Yorker
The New Yorker is an American magazine of reportage, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons and poetry published by Condé Nast...
by Whitney Darrow, Jr.
Whitney Darrow, Jr.
Whitney Darrow, Jr. was a prominent American cartoonist, who worked most of his career for The New Yorker, with some 1,500 of his cartoons printed in his nearly 50-year-long career with the magazine....
shows a cleaning lady on her hands and knees scrubbing an office floor while saying to another one: "I'd like to see George Plimpton do this sometime." In another cartoon in The New Yorker, a patient looks up at the masked surgeon about to operate on him and asks, "Wait a minute! How do I know you're not George Plimpton?" A feature in Mad Magazine titled "Some Really Dangerous Jobs for George Plimpton" spotlighted him trying to swim across Lake Erie
Lake Erie
Lake Erie is the fourth largest lake of the five Great Lakes in North America, and the tenth largest globally. It is the southernmost, shallowest, and smallest by volume of the Great Lakes and therefore also has the shortest average water residence time. It is bounded on the north by the...
, strolling through New York's Times Square
Times Square
Times Square is a major commercial intersection in the borough of Manhattan in New York City, at the junction of Broadway and Seventh Avenue and stretching from West 42nd to West 47th Streets...
in the middle of the night, and spending a day with Jerry Lewis
Jerry Lewis
Jerry Lewis is an American comedian, actor, singer, film producer, screenwriter and film director. He is best known for his slapstick humor in film, television, stage and radio. He was originally paired up with Dean Martin in 1946, forming the famed comedy team of Martin and Lewis...
. Plimpton was inducted as an honorary member of the Adelphic Alpha Pi Fraternity at Olivet College
Olivet College
Olivet College is a coeducational, liberal arts college located in Olivet, Michigan, United States, south of Lansing and west of Detroit. It is affiliated with the United Church of Christ and the National Association of Congregational Christian Churches, and accredited by the North Central...
, in Olivet
Olivet, Michigan
Olivet is a city in Eaton County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 1,758 at the 2000 census. Olivet College is located there.-Geography:According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of , all land.-Demographics:...
, Michigan
Michigan
Michigan is a U.S. state located in the Great Lakes Region of the United States of America. The name Michigan is the French form of the Ojibwa word mishigamaa, meaning "large water" or "large lake"....
, in 1979.
Plimpton also appeared in a number of feature films as an extra and in cameo appearances. He had a small role in the Oscar-winning film Good Will Hunting
Good Will Hunting
Good Will Hunting is a 1997 drama film directed by Gus Van Sant and starring Matt Damon, Robin Williams, Ben Affleck, Minnie Driver, and Stellan Skarsgård...
, playing a psychologist known for his best-selling books who agrees to have one session with the troubled protagonist, Will Hunting. Hunting tries to out Plimpton's character as gay
Gay
Gay is a word that refers to a homosexual person, especially a homosexual male. For homosexual women the specific term is "lesbian"....
, and the obviously horrified psychologist refuses to meet with him again. Plimpton played Tom Hanks
Tom Hanks
Thomas Jeffrey "Tom" Hanks is an American actor, producer, writer, and director. Hanks worked in television and family-friendly comedies, gaining wide notice in 1988's Big, before achieving success as a dramatic actor in several notable roles, including Andrew Beckett in Philadelphia, the title...
's antagonistic father in Volunteers
Volunteers (film)
Volunteers is a 1985 comedy directed by Nicholas Meyer and starring Tom Hanks and John Candy.-Plot:Lawrence Bourne III is a spoiled rich kid with a large gambling debt in the 1960s. After his father, Lawrence Bourne Jr...
. He was also notable for his appearance in television commercials during the early 1980s, including a memorable campaign for Mattel
Mattel
Mattel, Inc. is the world's largest toy company based on revenue. The products it produces include Fisher Price, Barbie dolls, Hot Wheels and Matchbox toys, Masters of the Universe, American Girl dolls, board games, and, in the early 1980s, video game consoles. The company's name is derived from...
's Intellivision
Intellivision
The Intellivision is a video game console released by Mattel in 1979. Development of the console began in 1978, less than a year after the introduction of its main competitor, the Atari 2600. The word intellivision is a portmanteau of "intelligent television"...
. In this campaign, Plimpton aggressively touted the superiority of Intellivision video games over those of competitors such as the Atari 2600
Atari 2600
The Atari 2600 is a video game console released in October 1977 by Atari, Inc. It is credited with popularizing the use of microprocessor-based hardware and cartridges containing game code, instead of having non-microprocessor dedicated hardware with all games built in...
. He was also the host of the Disney Channel
Disney Channel
Disney Channel is an American basic cable and satellite television network, owned by the Disney-ABC Television Group division of The Walt Disney Company. It is under the direction of Disney-ABC Television Group President Anne Sweeney. The channel's headquarters is located on West Alameda Ave. in...
's Mouseterpiece Theater (a Masterpiece Theatre
Masterpiece Theatre
Masterpiece is a drama anthology television series produced by WGBH Boston. It premiered on Public Broadcasting Service on January 10, 1971, making it America's longest-running weekly prime time drama series. The series has presented numerous acclaimed British productions...
spoof which featured classic Disney cartoon shorts). He appeared in an episode of The Simpsons
The Simpsons
The Simpsons is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical parody of a middle class American lifestyle epitomized by its family of the same name, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa and Maggie...
, "I'm Spelling as Fast as I Can
I'm Spelling as Fast as I Can
I'm Spelling as Fast as I Can is the twelfth episode of The Simpsons fourteenth season. The episode aired on February 16, 2003. Twenty-two million people watched this episode, making it the second-most watched episode since 2002.-Plot:...
", as host of the "Spellympics". He attempts to talk Lisa Simpson into losing the spelling bee with the offer of a college scholarship at a Seven Sisters College
Seven Sisters (colleges)
The Seven Sisters are seven liberal arts colleges in the Northeastern United States that are historically women's colleges. They are Barnard College, Bryn Mawr College, Mount Holyoke College, Radcliffe College, Smith College, Vassar College, and Wellesley College. All were founded between 1837 and...
and a hot plate, claiming "it's perfect for soup!" He also had a recurring role as the grandfather of Dr. Carter
John Carter (ER)
Dr. John Truman Carter III, portrayed by Noah Wyle, is a fictional character from the television series ER. The character, called simply "Carter" by most other characters, was introduced in the pilot episode and appeared for eleven consecutive seasons. Wyle decided to leave the show as a regular...
on the long-running NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
series ER
ER (TV series)
ER is an American medical drama television series created by novelist Michael Crichton that aired on NBC from September 19, 1994 to April 2, 2009. It was produced by Constant c Productions and Amblin Entertainment, in association with Warner Bros. Television...
.
A longtime fireworks
Fireworks
Fireworks are a class of explosive pyrotechnic devices used for aesthetic and entertainment purposes. The most common use of a firework is as part of a fireworks display. A fireworks event is a display of the effects produced by firework devices...
aficionado, Plimpton wrote the book Fireworks, and hosted an A&E
A&E Network
The A&E Network is a United States-based cable and satellite television network with headquarters in New York City and offices in Atlanta, Chicago, Detroit, London, Los Angeles and Stamford. A&E also airs in Canada and Latin America. Initially named the Arts & Entertainment Network, A&E launched...
Home Video with the same name featuring his many fireworks adventures with the Gruccis of New York in Monte Carlo and for the 1983 Brooklyn Bridge Centennial. He was appointed Fireworks Commissioner of New York by Mayor John Lindsay, an unofficial post he held until his death.
Shortly before his death, Plimpton wrote the libretto
Libretto
A libretto is the text used in an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, masque, oratorio, cantata, or musical. The term "libretto" is also sometimes used to refer to the text of major liturgical works, such as mass, requiem, and sacred cantata, or even the story line of a...
to a new family opera-musical Animal Tales, in collaboration with Grethe Barrett Holby. The piece had been commissioned by Grethe Barrett Holby's Family Opera Initiative with composition by Kitty Brazelton. George explained Animal Tales by saying "I suppose in a mild way there is a lesson to be learned for the young, or the young at heart - the gumption to get out and try one's wings." The creative team also included set designer Franco Colavecchia and costume designer Camille Assaf. The work premiered in its entirety in November 2008, with Keith Buterbaugh in the role of Dr. Alfred J. McGee, Jendi Tarde as Hamster, Barbi McCulloch as Goldfish, Ryan Naimy as Dog, Aus Jordan II as Turtle, Kyrian Friedenberg as Frog, Branch Fields as Parrot, and Garrett Taylor as Horse. Musicians included Jenny Lin on piano, David Vincola on Latin percussion and DJ Elan Vital.
A personal friend of the New England Sedgwick family, Plimpton edited Edie: An American Biography with Jean Stein
Jean Stein
-Biography:Jean Stein grew up in Los Angeles, the daughter of Dr. Jules Stein and his wife, Doris. She authored of two books and a pioneer of the narrative form of oral history. She is presently at work on a cultural and political history of Los Angeles, to be published by Farrar, Straus and...
in 1982. He also appeared in a brief interview footage about Edie Sedgwick
Edie Sedgwick
Edith Minturn "Edie" Sedgwick was an American actress, socialite, model and heiress. She is best known for being one of Andy Warhol's superstars. Sedgwick became known as "The Girl of the Year" in 1965 after starring in several of Warhol's short films in the 1960s...
in the DVD extra for the film Ciao! Manhattan
Ciao! Manhattan
Ciao! Manhattan is a 1972 American avant garde film starring Edie Sedgwick, one of Andy Warhol's Superstars. Although not a documentary, the film centers around a character very closely based on Sedgwick, and deals with the pain of addiction and the lure of fame.-Film overview:Written and directed...
. In addition, he appeared in the PBS
Public Broadcasting Service
The Public Broadcasting Service is an American non-profit public broadcasting television network with 354 member TV stations in the United States which hold collective ownership. Its headquarters is in Arlington, Virginia....
American Masters
American Masters
American Masters is a PBS television show which produces biographies on the artists, actors and writers of the United States who have left a profound impact on the nation's popular culture. It is produced by WNET in New York City...
documentary on Andy Warhol
Andy Warhol
Andrew Warhola , known as Andy Warhol, was an American painter, printmaker, and filmmaker who was a leading figure in the visual art movement known as pop art...
. Plimpton also appeared in the closing credits of the 2006 film "Factory Girl".
An oral
Speech
Speech is the human faculty of speaking.It may also refer to:* Public speaking, the process of speaking to a group of people* Manner of articulation, how the body parts involved in making speech are manipulated...
biography
Biography
A biography is a detailed description or account of someone's life. More than a list of basic facts , biography also portrays the subject's experience of those events...
titled George, Being George was edited by Nelson W. Aldrich Jr.
Nelson W. Aldrich Jr.
Nelson W. Aldrich Jr. is an American editor and the author of Old Money: The mythology of Wealth in America and George, Being George , the story of author and socialite George Plimpton told via first hand accounts of many who knew him...
, and released on 21 October 2008. The book offers memories of Plimpton from among other writers, such as Norman Mailer
Norman Mailer
Norman Kingsley Mailer was an American novelist, journalist, essayist, poet, playwright, screenwriter, and film director.Along with Truman Capote, Joan Didion, Hunter S...
, William Styron
William Styron
William Clark Styron, Jr. was an American novelist and essayist who won major literary awards for his work.For much of his career, Styron was best known for his novels, which included...
, Gay Talese
Gay Talese
Gay Talese is an American author. He wrote for The New York Times in the early 1960s and helped to define literary journalism...
and Gore Vidal
Gore Vidal
Gore Vidal is an American author, playwright, essayist, screenwriter, and political activist. His third novel, The City and the Pillar , outraged mainstream critics as one of the first major American novels to feature unambiguous homosexuality...
, and was done with the cooperation of both his ex-wife and his widow.
Researcher and writer Samuel Arbesman filed with NASA
NASA
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is the agency of the United States government that is responsible for the nation's civilian space program and for aeronautics and aerospace research...
to name an asteroid after George Plimpton; NASA issued the certificate in 2009.
In 2006, the musician Jonathan Coulton
Jonathan Coulton
Jonathan Coulton is an American singer-songwriter, known for his songs about geek culture and his use of the Internet to draw fans...
wrote the song entitled 'A Talk with George', a part of his 'Thing A Week' series, in tribute to Mr. Plimpton's many adventures and approach to life. Plimpton is also the protagonist of the semi-fictional George Plimpton's Video Falconry, a 1983 ColecoVision game postulated by humorist John Hodgman
John Hodgman
John Kellogg Hodgman is an American author, actor, and humorist. In addition to his published written works, such as The Areas of My Expertise, More Information Than You Require, and That Is All, he is known for his personification of a PC in contrast to Justin Long's personification of a Mac in...
and recreated by video game auteur Tom Fulp
Tom Fulp
Thomas Michael "Tom" Fulp is the co-owner of video game company The Behemoth, and the creator and administrator of Newgrounds, a popular website for sharing Flash files...
.
A feature-length documentary about George, directed by Tom Bean and Luke Poling, is currently in postproduction. It will be completed and released sometime in 2011.
Personal life
Plimpton was married twice. His first wife, whom he married in 1968 and divorced in 1988, was Freddy Medora Espy, a photographer's assistant. She was the daughter of writers Willard R. EspyWillard R. Espy
Willard Richardson Espy was a U.S. editor, philologist, writer, and poet. He is particularly remembered for his anthology of light verse and word play, An Almanac of Words at Play, and its two sequels...
and Hilda S. Cole, who had earlier in her career been the publicity agent for Kate Smith
Kate Smith
Kathryn Elizabeth "Kate" Smith was an American Popular singer, best known for her rendition of Irving Berlin's "God Bless America". Smith had a radio, television, and recording career spanning five decades, which reached its pinnacle in the 1940s.Smith was born in Greenville, Virginia...
and Fred Waring
Fred Waring
Fredrick Malcolm Waring was a popular musician, bandleader and radio-television personality, sometimes referred to as "America's Singing Master" and "The Man Who Taught America How to Sing." He was also a promoter, financial backer and namesake of the Waring Blendor, the first modern electric...
. They had two children: Medora Ames Plimpton and Taylor Ames Plimpton, who has published a memoir entitled “Notes from the Night: A Life After Dark.”
In 1992, he married Sarah Whitehead Dudley, a graduate of Columbia University
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
and a freelance writer. She is the daughter of James Chittenden Dudley, a managing partner of Dudley and Company, a Manhattan-based investment management firm and a geologist and Elisabeth Claypool. James and Elisabeth established the 36 acres (145,687 m²) Highstead Arboretum
Highstead Arboretum
The Highstead Arboretum in Redding, Connecticut, USA was founded in 1982. It covers 36 acres of woodland, meadow, and wetland and ranges from to in elevation. It hosts both native and cultivated plant varieties...
in Redding, Connecticut
Redding, Connecticut
Mark Twain, a resident of the town in his old age, contributed the first books for a public library which was eventually named after him.-Government:...
. George and Sarah were the parents of twin daughters, Laura Dudley Plimpton and Olivia Hartley Plimpton.
Death
Plimpton died on September 25, 2003 in his New York CityNew York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
apartment from an apparent heart attack. He was 76.
Author
- Letters in Training (letters to home from Italy, privately printed, 1946)
- The Rabbit's Umbrella (children's book, 1955)
- Out of My League (baseball, 1961)
- Go Caroline, (about Caroline Kennedy, privately printed, 1963)
- Paper LionPaper LionPaper Lion, published in 1966, is a non-fiction book by prominent American writer George Plimpton.In 1960, Plimpton, not a professional athlete, arranged to pitch to a lineup of baseball stars in an All-Star exhibition, presumably to answer the question, "How would the average man off of the street...
(about his experience playing professional football with the Detroit Lions, 1966) - The Bogey Man (about his experiences travelling with the PGA TourPGA TourThe PGA Tour is the organizer of the main men's professional golf tours in the United States and North America...
, 1967) - Mad Ducks and Bears (about Detroit Lions linemen Alex KarrasAlex KarrasAlexander George "Alex" Karras , nicknamed "The Mad Duck", is a former football player, professional wrestler, and actor, best known for his stint with the Detroit Lions of the National Football League from 1958–1962 and 1964-1970 and for his role as Mongo in the film Blazing Saddles...
and John GordyJohn GordyJohn Gordy was an American Football offensive guard who played for the Detroit Lions in an eleven year career that lasted from 1957 to 1967 in the National Football League....
, 1973) - Shadow Box (about boxing, author's bout with Archie MooreArchie MooreArchie Moore, born Archibald Lee Wright , was light heavyweight world boxing champion who had one of the longest professional careers in the history of that sport....
, Ali-Foreman showdown in Zaire, 1977) - One More July (about the last NFL training camp of former Packer and future coach Bill CurryBill CurryWilliam Alexander "Bill" Curry is an American football coach and former player. He is the current head coach at Georgia State University, which began competing in college football in 2010...
, 1977) - Edie: An American Biography (1982)
- Fireworks: A History and Celebration (1984)
- Open Net (about his experience playing professional ice hockey with the Boston Bruins, (1985)
- The Curious Case of Sidd FinchSidd FinchSidd Finch was a fictional baseball player, the subject of the notorious article and April Fools' Day hoax "The Curious Case of Sidd Finch" written by George Plimpton and first published in the April 1, 1985 issue of Sports Illustrated.-Hoax:...
(a novel that extends a Sports IllustratedSports IllustratedSports Illustrated is an American sports media company owned by media conglomerate Time Warner. Its self titled magazine has over 3.5 million subscribers and is read by 23 million adults each week, including over 18 million men. It was the first magazine with circulation over one million to win the...
April FoolsApril Fools' DayApril Fools' Day is celebrated in different countries around the world on April 1 every year. Sometimes referred to as All Fools' Day, April 1 is not a national holiday, but is widely recognized and celebrated as a day when many people play all kinds of jokes and foolishness...
piece about a fictitious baseball pitcher who could throw over 160 mph (250 km/h), 1987) - The X Factor: A Quest for Excellence (1990)
- Truman Capote: In Which Various Friends, Enemies, Acquaintances, and Detractors Recall His Turbulent Career (1997)
Editor
- Writers at Work (The Paris Review Interviews), several volumes
- American Journey: the Times of Robert Kennedy (with Jean Stein)
Introductions
- The Writer's Chapbook: A Compendium of Fact, Opinion, Wit, and Advice from the 20th Century's Preeminent Writers
- Above New YorkAbove New YorkAbove New York is a 1988 aerial travel pictorial book of New York City, and the five boroughs by Robert Cameron. It consists of aerial pictures with a text about the scene beneath, occasionally with an opposing page containing the same format but with a historical picture of the same scene. The...
's by Robert Cameron)
Film appearances
- The DetectiveThe Detective (1968 film)The Detective is a 1968 film directed by Gordon Douglas, produced by Aaron Rosenberg and starring Frank Sinatra, based on the 1966 novel of the same name by Roderick Thorp.Co-stars include Lee Remick, Jacqueline Bisset, Jack Klugman and Robert Duvall....
(1968) - Rio LoboRio LoboRio Lobo is a 1970 Western movie starring John Wayne. The film was the last film directed by Howard Hawks, from a script by Leigh Brackett. The film was shot in Technicolor with a running time of 114 minutes...
(1970) (Plimpton's preparation and filming for his role as "Fourth Gunman" was the subject of a television program.) - Reds (1981)
- VolunteersVolunteers (film)Volunteers is a 1985 comedy directed by Nicholas Meyer and starring Tom Hanks and John Candy.-Plot:Lawrence Bourne III is a spoiled rich kid with a large gambling debt in the 1960s. After his father, Lawrence Bourne Jr...
(1985) - The Bonfire of the VanitiesThe Bonfire of the Vanities (film)The Bonfire of the Vanities is a 1990 American film adaptation of the best-selling novel of the same name by Tom Wolfe. The film was directed by Brian De Palma and stars Tom Hanks as Sherman McCoy, Bruce Willis as Peter Fallow, Melanie Griffith as Maria Ruskin, and Kim Cattrall as Judy McCoy,...
(1990) - Little Man TateLittle Man TateLittle Man Tate is a 1991 motion picture drama directed by and starring Jodie Foster.It tells the story of Fred Tate, a 7-year-old child prodigy who struggles to self-actualize in a social and psychological construct that largely fails to accommodate his intelligence...
(1991) - L.A. StoryL.A. StoryL.A. Story is a 1991 American romantic comedy film, written by and starring Steve Martin. Set in Los Angeles, California, it relates a series of episodes in the romantic life of an L.A. TV weatherman. It includes surreal sequences in which he is offered romantic advice flashed to him by a freeway...
(1991) - Ken Burns' BaseballBaseball (documentary)Baseball is an 18½ hour, Emmy Award-winning documentary series by Ken Burns about the game of baseball. First broadcast on PBS, this was Burns' ninth documentary.- Format :...
(1994) - Just CauseJust Cause (film)Just Cause is a 1995 film directed by Arne Glimcher and starring Sean Connery and Laurence Fishburne. It is based on John Katzenbach's novel of the same name.-Plot:...
(1995) - NixonNixon (film)Nixon is a 1995 American biographical film directed by Oliver Stone for Cinergi Pictures that tells the story of the political and personal life of former US President Richard Nixon, played by Anthony Hopkins....
(1995) - Good Will HuntingGood Will HuntingGood Will Hunting is a 1997 drama film directed by Gus Van Sant and starring Matt Damon, Robin Williams, Ben Affleck, Minnie Driver, and Stellan Skarsgård...
(Miramax, 1997) as Dr. Henry Lipkin, PsychologistPsychologistPsychologist is a professional or academic title used by individuals who are either:* Clinical professionals who work with patients in a variety of therapeutic contexts .* Scientists conducting psychological research or teaching psychology in a college... - When We Were KingsWhen We Were KingsWhen We Were Kings is a 1996 documentary film directed by Leon Gast about the famous Rumble in the Jungle heavyweight championship match between Muhammad Ali and George Foreman. The fight was held in Zaire on October 30, 1974.The film features a number of celebrities, including James Brown, Jim...
(1997) as himself, Reporter - The Last Days of DiscoThe Last Days of DiscoThe Last Days of Disco is a 1998 sardonic comedy-drama film written and directed by Whit Stillman and loosely based on his travels and experiences in various nightclubs in Manhattan, including Studio 54. The film concerns a group of Ivy League and Hampshire graduates falling in and out of love in...
(1998) - EDtvEdTVEDtv is a 1999 American comedy film directed by Ron Howard. An adaptation of the Quebec film Louis 19, le roi des ondes , it stars Matthew McConaughey, Jenna Elfman, Woody Harrelson, Ellen DeGeneres, Martin Landau, Rob Reiner, Sally Kirkland, Elizabeth Hurley, Clint Howard, and Dennis Hopper.The...
(1999) - Just Visiting (2001)
- Boner Academy (2003) as The Evil Dean
- Factory Girl (2006)
- Soul PowerSoul Power (film)Soul Power is a 2008 documentary film directed by Jeff Levy-Hinte about the Zaire 74 music festival which accompanied the Rumble in the Jungle heavyweight boxing championship match between Muhammad Ali and George Foreman in October 1974....
(2008) as himself - Plimpton! Starring George Plimpton as Himself (2011) as himself
Television appearances
- Plimpton! The Man on the Flying Trapeze, (documentary), himself, ABC, Feb 1971
- Mouseterpiece Theater, host, himself, Disney Channel, 1983–1984
- The Civil War, reading the diary of New Yorker, George Templeton StrongGeorge Templeton StrongGeorge Templeton Strong was an American lawyer and diarist. His 2,250-page diary, discovered in the 1930s, provides a striking personal account of life in the 19th century, especially during the events of the American Civil War...
, 1990 - Wings, "The Shrink," Dr. Grayson 1994
- Voice, Baseball, PBS 1994
- Married... with ChildrenMarried... with ChildrenMarried... with Children is an American surrealistic sitcom that aired for 11 seasons that featured a dysfunctional family living in Chicago, Illinois. The show, notable for being the first prime time television series to air on Fox, ran from April 5, 1987, to June 9, 1997. The series was created...
, 200 Episode Special Host "Best O' Bundy" 1995 - ERER (TV series)ER is an American medical drama television series created by novelist Michael Crichton that aired on NBC from September 19, 1994 to April 2, 2009. It was produced by Constant c Productions and Amblin Entertainment, in association with Warner Bros. Television...
, playing "John Truman Carter, Sr.," 1998 and 2001 - Saturday Night LiveSaturday Night LiveSaturday Night Live is a live American late-night television sketch comedy and variety show developed by Lorne Michaels and Dick Ebersol. The show premiered on NBC on October 11, 1975, under the original title of NBC's Saturday Night.The show's sketches often parody contemporary American culture...
, as himself, uncredited, 1999 and 2002 (In the March 13 Episode of Saturday Night LiveSaturday Night LiveSaturday Night Live is a live American late-night television sketch comedy and variety show developed by Lorne Michaels and Dick Ebersol. The show premiered on NBC on October 11, 1975, under the original title of NBC's Saturday Night.The show's sketches often parody contemporary American culture...
Season 1, he is one of the audience cutaway shots (usually featured in the early seasons with comedic and fictitious non-sequitur captions as to whom the audience member was, or what they did). He is labelled as having "Roomed with Wendy Yoshimura". - A Nero Wolfe MysteryA Nero Wolfe MysteryA Nero Wolfe Mystery is a television series adapted from Rex Stout's classic series of detective stories that aired for two seasons on the A&E Network. Set in New York City in the early 1950s, the stylized period drama stars Maury Chaykin as Nero Wolfe and Timothy Hutton as Archie Goodwin...
, playing various roles in 10 episodes, 2001–2002 - The SimpsonsThe SimpsonsThe Simpsons is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical parody of a middle class American lifestyle epitomized by its family of the same name, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa and Maggie...
, playing himself in the episode "I'm Spelling as Fast as I CanI'm Spelling as Fast as I CanI'm Spelling as Fast as I Can is the twelfth episode of The Simpsons fourteenth season. The episode aired on February 16, 2003. Twenty-two million people watched this episode, making it the second-most watched episode since 2002.-Plot:...
", originally aired February 16, 2003 - Just Shoot Me, playing himself in the show's A&E Biography of fictional character 'Nina Van Horn', 2003
Commercial appearances on television
- Oldsmobile Vista CruiserOldsmobile Vista CruiserThe Vista Cruiser is a station wagon built by the Oldsmobile Division of General Motors from 1964 to 1977. It was based on the Oldsmobile Cutlass/F-85 model but prior to the 1973 model year it utilized a wheelbase which was longer than that of the Cutlass/F-85 sedan.Unlike most station wagons, it...
, pitchman, himself, released by OldsmobileOldsmobileOldsmobile was a brand of American automobile produced for most of its existence by General Motors. It was founded by Ransom E. Olds in 1897. In its 107-year history, it produced 35.2 million cars, including at least 14 million built at its Lansing, Michigan factory...
in late 1968 for the 1969 model year - IntellivisionIntellivisionThe Intellivision is a video game console released by Mattel in 1979. Development of the console began in 1978, less than a year after the introduction of its main competitor, the Atari 2600. The word intellivision is a portmanteau of "intelligent television"...
, pitchman, himself, released by MattelMattelMattel, Inc. is the world's largest toy company based on revenue. The products it produces include Fisher Price, Barbie dolls, Hot Wheels and Matchbox toys, Masters of the Universe, American Girl dolls, board games, and, in the early 1980s, video game consoles. The company's name is derived from...
in 1979
- "Pop-Secret", pitchman, himself.
Video Game appearances
- Plimpton is the protagonist of the semi-fictional George Plimpton's Video Falconry, a 1983 ColecoVision game postulated by humorist John HodgmanJohn HodgmanJohn Kellogg Hodgman is an American author, actor, and humorist. In addition to his published written works, such as The Areas of My Expertise, More Information Than You Require, and That Is All, he is known for his personification of a PC in contrast to Justin Long's personification of a Mac in...
and recreated by video game auteur Tom FulpTom FulpThomas Michael "Tom" Fulp is the co-owner of video game company The Behemoth, and the creator and administrator of Newgrounds, a popular website for sharing Flash files...
for NewgroundsNewgroundsNewgrounds is an American entertainment and social media website. Founded on July 6, 1995 by Tom Fulp, the site primarily hosts Adobe Flash animations and games, but also features a music-oriented page, along with an art portal...
.
Literary characterizations
- Plimpton appears as a character in Philip RothPhilip RothPhilip Milton Roth is an American novelist. He gained fame with the 1959 novella Goodbye, Columbus, an irreverent and humorous portrait of Jewish-American life that earned him a National Book Award...
's novel, Exit GhostExit GhostExit Ghost is a 2007 novel by Philip Roth. It is the ninth, and Roth says his last, novel featuring Nathan Zuckerman.-Plot summary:The plot centers on Zuckerman's return home to New York after eleven years in New England. The purpose of Zuckerman's journey, which he takes the week before the 2004 U.S...
.
Musical characterizations
- Plimpton is the subject of the song A Talk With George by folk-rock musician Jonathan CoultonJonathan CoultonJonathan Coulton is an American singer-songwriter, known for his songs about geek culture and his use of the Internet to draw fans...
Further reading
- Aldrich, Nelson W.http://books.google.com/books?id=bA2QcYayFigC&printsec=frontcover&dq=george+being+george&source=bl&ots=5YQpgnsG0L&sig=BQNeTTouUkW0hrvz3-wgyWdZugE&hl=en&ei=1kX9S_XrDo3YNtu01d4H&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=4&ved=0CCkQ6AEwAw#George, Being George: George Plimpton's Life as Told, Admired, Deplored, and Envied by 200 Friends, Relatives, Lovers, Acquaintances, Rivals--and a Few Unappreciative Observers] New York. Publisher: Random HouseRandom HouseRandom House, Inc. is the largest general-interest trade book publisher in the world. It has been owned since 1998 by the German private media corporation Bertelsmann and has become the umbrella brand for Bertelsmann book publishing. Random House also has a movie production arm, Random House Films,...
, Inc., 2009 ISBN 0-8129-7418-2. - Chase, Levi Badger A genealogy and historical notices of the family of Plimpton or Plympton in America : and of Plumpton in England. Publisher: Plimpton Mfg. Company 1884.
- Swetz, Frank, J. 1987. Capitalism and Arithmetic. La Salle: Open Court. The author describes his years of working with Plimpton in Paris.