In honor of Ray Bradbury ’s continuing influence on science fable , check out a few enchanting fact about the literary adept .
1. Ray Bradbury scored his first writing gig when he was still a teen.
Most stripling get a first Book of Job sacking grocery or catapult burgers . At the historic period of 14 , Ray Bradbury landed himself a gig piece of writing for George Burns and Gracie Allen ’s radio show — though he later said he never got any money .
“ I went down on Figueroa Street in front of the Figueroa Playhouse , ” Bradbury laterrecalled . “ I visit George Burns outside the front of the theatre . I went up to him and said , ‘ Mr. Burns , you got your broadcast tonight do n’t you ? ’ He aver , ‘ Yes . ’ I said , ‘ You do n’t have an interview in there do you ? ’ He said , ‘ No . ’ I said , ‘ Will you take me in and let me be your audience ? ’ So he took me in and put me in the front row , and the curtain break down up , and I was in the audience for Burns and Allen . I went every Wednesday for the broadcast and then I compose shows and apply them to George Burns . They only used one — but they did use it , it was for the end of the show . ”
2. Ray Bradbury was 25 years old before he ever asked a girl out.
At the age of 25 , Bradbury ultimately summoned up the courage to ask a missy out for the first fourth dimension ever . She was a bookshop clerk namedMaggie , who intend he was steal from the bookstore because he had a farsighted trench coat on . They went out for coffee , which turned into cocktails , which turned into dinner party , which turn into union , which change by reversal into 56 anniversaries and four children . She was the only girl Bradbury ever date . Maggie held down a full - time job while Ray continue at dwelling and wrote , something that was virtually unheard of in the 1940s .
3. Ray Bradbury impressed Truman Capote.
George Burns is n’t the only famous middle Bradbury catch . In 1947,a writer atMademoiselleread Bradbury ’s short news report , “ Homecoming , ” about the only human son in a family of supernatural being . The powder store decided to launch the piece , and Bradbury get ahead a place in the O. Henry Prize Stories as one of the good short floor of 1947 . That young writer who help Bradbury out by catch his story out of the unasked materials cumulation ? Truman Capote .
4. Ray Bradbury had an aversion to cars.
Not only did Bradbury never get a driver ’s license , he did n’t consider in cars foranyone . His own personal antipathy came from seeing a fatal car accident when he was just 16 . In 1996 , hetoldPlayboy,“I project six multitude die dreadfully in an stroke . I walked home holding on to walls and trees . It take me month to begin to function again . So I do n’t force back . But whether I drive or not is irrelevant . The automobile is the most dangerous weapon in our society — cars down more than wars do . ”
5. Ray Bradbury didn’t go to college.
Though he wroteFahrenheit 451at UCLA , he was n’t a student there . In fact , he did n’t conceive in college . “ I believe in library because most bookman do n’t have any money , ” BradburytoldThe New York Timesin 2009 . “ When I graduate from high schooltime , it was during the Depression and we had no money . I could n’t go to college , so I go to the library three Clarence Shepard Day Jr. a hebdomad for 10 yr . ”
6. Ray Bradbury loathed computers.
Despite his writings about all thing futuristic , Bradbury loathed computers . “ We are being flimflammed by Bill Gates and his collaborator , ” hetoldPlayboyin 1996 . “ wait at Windows ' 95 . That ’s a muckle of flimflam , you know . ” He also stated that reckoner were nothing more than typewriters to him , and he certainly did n’t postulate another one of those . He also telephone the internet “ sure-enough - fashioned ” : “ They type a question to you . You typecast an response back . That ’s 30 class ago . Why not do it on the telephone , which is immediate ? Why not do it on TV , which is prompt ? Why are they so excited with something that is so backward ? ”
7. Ray Bradbury was pals with Walt Disney.
Not only was Bradbury good friends with Walt Disney ( and even exhort him to run away for mayor of Los Angeles ) , he helped contribute to the Spaceship Earth hinge upon at Epcot , pass on a narrative intervention that they build the ride around . He was a big fan of the Disney car park , saying :
8. Ray Bradbury wanted his ashes to be sent to Mars in a soup can.
9. NASA paid tribute to Ray Bradbury.
Perhaps a more meet memorial is the one NASA gave him when they bring down a scouter on Mars a few month after Bradbury ’s decease in 2012 : They identify the internet site where Mars rover Curiosity touched down “ Bradbury Landing . ”
A version of this story draw in 2017 ; it has been updated for 2021 .
Do you love interpretation ? Are you eager to jazz unbelievably interesting fact about novelist and their work ? Then pick up our Modern volume , The Curious Reader : A Literary Miscellany of Novels and Novelists , out May 25 !
