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Greene, Graham, 1904-1991

 Person

Dates

  • Existence: 1904 - 1991

Biographical Note

Graham Greene was born in Berkhamstead, Hertfordshire on October 2, 1904. He attended Berkhamstead School, Balliol College at Oxford, and became a journalist. Greene converted to Roman Catholicism (1926) and married Vivien Dayrell-Browning (1927), with whom he had two children. Greene wrote and published The Man Within (1929), a critical and commercial success that enabled him to leave his job. Greene was an avid cinemagoer and reviewed many films in the 1930s before working as a screenwriter. Some of Greene’s film treatments were published as novels, including The Third Man. During World War II, he was employed at the Ministry of Information commissioning and editing war propaganda and as an air raid warden. Greene moved to the Secret Intelligence Service (1941) and was sent to Sierra Leone as a counter espionage officer (1941-1943). He moved to the Iberian branch of the Intelligence Service where he monitored operations in Gibraltar, Lisbon, Madrid, and Tangier. Greene’s experience of espionage work informed the plots of a number of his most celebrated novels. Greene continued working unofficially for the Intelligence Service after the war, which supported his extensive travels in the 1950s and 1960s. Greene and Vivienne lived apart staring in 1946, but never divorced. Greene had affairs with Catherine Walston and later Yvonne Cloetta, who was his companion until his death in 1990.

Found in 1 Collection or Record:

Greene, Graham, 1975-1981

 File — Shared_box 22430: Series III [Barcode: C0129644], Folder: 18
Scope and Contents From the Collection:

Consists of correspondence to John Cumming, literary editor of The Tablet, from various English and Scottish writers. Manuscripts of poems, essays, and reviews by these authors are also included.

Restrictions on Access

Collection is open for research.

Dates: 1975-1981