Harry Preston
Encyclopedia
Harry Preston is an author
and Hollywood screenwriter
. To date, his credits include over 90 published books and over 300 films of all types, from feature films to industrials, commercials, documentaries and training films.
Diamond Company. Henry and Lilian Pimm eventually moved to Durban, where Henry and his brother, William Pimm, founded WR Pimm & Co., a local chain of chemist shops.
Harry Pimm grew up in Howick
, a little town nestling near the Drakensberg Mountains near Pietermaritzburg
, KwaZulu-Natal Province, South Africa, 115 miles inland from Durban. His family moved to Durban after the crash of 1929, where he attended St. Henry's Marist Brothers' College
, a co-educational private school school with a Catholic foundation in Glenwood, Durban, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. Harry Pimm spent ten years at St. Henry's, where he received an in-depth primary education, matriculating at the age of fifteen as the youngest student up to that time ever to graduate. Several months wait were required before his enrolment at the University of Natal
because the minimum age limit for college was sixteen. Harry Pimm began writing children's stories and books while still in his teens, moving on quickly to writing adult articles and short stories for major South African newspapers and magazines.
Harry Pimm moved to the U.S. in 1948. When he became an American citizen, he changed his last name to Preston. He settled in Dallas,TX, where he began writing and directing low budget films for the young Dallas film industry.
While news editor at WFAA-TV
, Channel 8, the ABC station in Dallas, Harry Preston wrote TORNADO, a documentary on the devastating tornado
in Dallas in 1957, which won the Sylvania Award. He also wrote several Dallas television series, notably Spotlight on Texas sponsored by Southwestern Bell Telephone, as well as writing many Viewpoint columns in the Dallas Morning News.
In 1959, Harry Preston moved to California, where he joined Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios as an analyst and rewrite man. The writers’ strike in 1962 forced him to move east to join the famous Jam Handy Studios in Detroit, where one of his commercials (for “Religion in American Life”) was nominated for an industry award.
After the Detroit riots of 1967, he returned to the West Coast, where he resumed work authoring fiction and non-fiction books. His book Everything a Teenager Wants to Know About Sex and Should (Books for Better Living) received rave reviews and went into seven printings.
Among Harry Preston’s many novels are 14 romance novels he wrote for MacFadden which were published under the pseudonym “Vanessa Cartwright”.
Following a year's visit to Cape Town
in 1971, he wrote a supernatural horror tale set in South Africa called Queen of Darkness (Manor Books). During the Seventies, he also wrote many training films for the United States Air Force at Norton AFB in California.
In 1976, Mr. Preston moved back to Dallas and now works closely with the Texas film and literary communities. In 1989 he received a Life Achievement Award at the Corpus Christi Film Festival for his contribution to the Texas film industry. Since 1990 he has taught screenwriting at Richland College in Dallas and actively markets scripts and books through his literary agency - Stanton & Associates Literary Agency.
In 2002, his biography of former Broadway and movie star Thelma White, titled THELMA WHO? was published by Scarecrow Press and was selected as one of the top ten best books of 2002 by CLASSIC IMAGES, the national movie magazine. In 2003, Mr. Preston's latest novels FACES OF ANGELS and SHOT IN DALLAS were published.
Harry Preston's biography OMAR SHARIF LOVED MY CHEESECAKE is currently being considered for publication.
Harry Preston is represented by Stanton & Associates Literary Agency, 4413 Clemson Drive, Garland, Texas 75042
As Vanessa Cartwright
Author
An author is broadly defined as "the person who originates or gives existence to anything" and that authorship determines responsibility for what is created. Narrowly defined, an author is the originator of any written work.-Legal significance:...
and Hollywood screenwriter
Screenwriter
Screenwriters or scriptwriters or scenario writers are people who write/create the short or feature-length screenplays from which mass media such as films, television programs, Comics or video games are based.-Profession:...
. To date, his credits include over 90 published books and over 300 films of all types, from feature films to industrials, commercials, documentaries and training films.
Biography
Harry Preston was born Harry Pimm in Durban, South Africa. His father was Richard Henry Pimm, a chemist who migrated from Tamworth, England, to Cape Town, South Africa, where he opened a chemist shop. After moving to Kimberly, SA, Henry Pimm married Lilian Catherine Walter, daughter of George A. Walter, a US Vice Consul to South Africa starting in 1872. While living in Kimberly, the Walters became family friends of Cecil Rhodes, founder of the De BeersDe Beers
De Beers is a family of companies that dominate the diamond, diamond mining, diamond trading and industrial diamond manufacturing sectors. De Beers is active in every category of industrial diamond mining: open-pit, underground, large-scale alluvial, coastal and deep sea...
Diamond Company. Henry and Lilian Pimm eventually moved to Durban, where Henry and his brother, William Pimm, founded WR Pimm & Co., a local chain of chemist shops.
Harry Pimm grew up in Howick
Howick
Howick can refer to:Places*Howick, KwaZulu-Natal**Howick Falls*Howick, Lancashire, a small town in England*Howick, Monmouthshire*Howick, New Zealand**Howick Historical Village*Howick, Northumberland, a small town in England**Howick house...
, a little town nestling near the Drakensberg Mountains near Pietermaritzburg
Pietermaritzburg
Pietermaritzburg is the capital and second largest city in the province of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. It was founded in 1838, and is currently governed by the Msunduzi Local Municipality. Its "purist" Zulu name is umGungundlovu, and this is the name used for the district municipality...
, KwaZulu-Natal Province, South Africa, 115 miles inland from Durban. His family moved to Durban after the crash of 1929, where he attended St. Henry's Marist Brothers' College
St. Henry's Marist Brothers' College
St. Henry's Marist Brothers' College is a co-educational private school school with a Catholic foundation in Glenwood, Durban, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa.-History:...
, a co-educational private school school with a Catholic foundation in Glenwood, Durban, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. Harry Pimm spent ten years at St. Henry's, where he received an in-depth primary education, matriculating at the age of fifteen as the youngest student up to that time ever to graduate. Several months wait were required before his enrolment at the University of Natal
University of Natal
The University of Natal was a university in Natal, and later KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa, that is now part of the University of KwaZulu-Natal. It was founded in 1910 as the Natal University College in Pietermaritzburg, and expanded to include a campus in Durban in 1931. In 1947, the university...
because the minimum age limit for college was sixteen. Harry Pimm began writing children's stories and books while still in his teens, moving on quickly to writing adult articles and short stories for major South African newspapers and magazines.
Harry Pimm moved to the U.S. in 1948. When he became an American citizen, he changed his last name to Preston. He settled in Dallas,TX, where he began writing and directing low budget films for the young Dallas film industry.
While news editor at WFAA-TV
WFAA-TV
WFAA, channel 8, is an ABC-affiliated television station serving the Dallas–Fort Worth Metroplex, one of the top ten media markets in North America. The station is the flagship of Belo Corporation and the largest ABC affiliate not owned and operated by the network...
, Channel 8, the ABC station in Dallas, Harry Preston wrote TORNADO, a documentary on the devastating tornado
Tornado
A tornado is a violent, dangerous, rotating column of air that is in contact with both the surface of the earth and a cumulonimbus cloud or, in rare cases, the base of a cumulus cloud. They are often referred to as a twister or a cyclone, although the word cyclone is used in meteorology in a wider...
in Dallas in 1957, which won the Sylvania Award. He also wrote several Dallas television series, notably Spotlight on Texas sponsored by Southwestern Bell Telephone, as well as writing many Viewpoint columns in the Dallas Morning News.
In 1959, Harry Preston moved to California, where he joined Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios as an analyst and rewrite man. The writers’ strike in 1962 forced him to move east to join the famous Jam Handy Studios in Detroit, where one of his commercials (for “Religion in American Life”) was nominated for an industry award.
After the Detroit riots of 1967, he returned to the West Coast, where he resumed work authoring fiction and non-fiction books. His book Everything a Teenager Wants to Know About Sex and Should (Books for Better Living) received rave reviews and went into seven printings.
Among Harry Preston’s many novels are 14 romance novels he wrote for MacFadden which were published under the pseudonym “Vanessa Cartwright”.
Following a year's visit to Cape Town
Cape Town
Cape Town is the second-most populous city in South Africa, and the provincial capital and primate city of the Western Cape. As the seat of the National Parliament, it is also the legislative capital of the country. It forms part of the City of Cape Town metropolitan municipality...
in 1971, he wrote a supernatural horror tale set in South Africa called Queen of Darkness (Manor Books). During the Seventies, he also wrote many training films for the United States Air Force at Norton AFB in California.
In 1976, Mr. Preston moved back to Dallas and now works closely with the Texas film and literary communities. In 1989 he received a Life Achievement Award at the Corpus Christi Film Festival for his contribution to the Texas film industry. Since 1990 he has taught screenwriting at Richland College in Dallas and actively markets scripts and books through his literary agency - Stanton & Associates Literary Agency.
In 2002, his biography of former Broadway and movie star Thelma White, titled THELMA WHO? was published by Scarecrow Press and was selected as one of the top ten best books of 2002 by CLASSIC IMAGES, the national movie magazine. In 2003, Mr. Preston's latest novels FACES OF ANGELS and SHOT IN DALLAS were published.
Harry Preston's biography OMAR SHARIF LOVED MY CHEESECAKE is currently being considered for publication.
Harry Preston is represented by Stanton & Associates Literary Agency, 4413 Clemson Drive, Garland, Texas 75042
Selected bibliography
As Harry Preston- Everything a Teenager Wants to Know About Sex and Should (ISBN 0870563289, Books for Better Living, 1973)
- The Natural Food Reducing Diet (ISBN 0870563572, Books for Better Living, 1974)
- Queen of Darkness (Manor Books, 1976)
- I Plead Insanity: When Manic Depression Turns Violent, with Paul Rollins (ISBN 0962321648, Odenwald Pr, 1993)
- Faces of Angels (ISBN 1588516733, Publish America, 2001)
- Thelma Who? Almost 100 Years of Showbiz (ISBN 0810841266, Scarecrow Press, Inc, 2002)
- Shot In Dallas (ISBN 1413701264, Publish America, 2003)
As Vanessa Cartwright
- Wine of Love (ISBN 0897720385) MacFadden Romance Series #39.
- Appointment in Antibes (ISBN 0897720423) MacFadden Romance Series #82.
- Wife Without Love (ISBN 0897721020) MacFadden Romance Series #85
- Summer in Stockholm (ISBN 089772058X) MacFadden Romance Series #93.
- Triston's Lair (ISBN 0897721659) MacFadden Romance Series #149.