Ray Bradbury, the prolific and award-winning author of science-fiction, died last night at age 91.
Bradbury is best known for the 1953 novel “Fahrenheit 451,” about a dystopia in which books are outlawed. It was famously adapted into a 1966 film directed by François Truffaut and starring Julie Christie and Oskar Werner.
Bradbury himself delved into filmmaking for a short period of time, co-writing the screenplay for 1956’s adaptation of Herman Melville’s “Moby Dick” with the legendary director John Huston.
On television, Bradbury hosted a syndicated anthology television series, “The Ray Bradbury Theater,” from 1985 to 1992. Each episode began with Bradbury in his office, introducing his stories — 65 of which were adapted for the show.
In 2005, Bradbury’s name returned to Hollywood headlines when he protested Michael Moore’s use of the title “Fahrenheit 9/11” for his faux-documentary about the Bush Administration, pressuring Moore to change the title to no avail.
Bradbury had dozens of works adapted and alluded to on the silver-screen over the decades, but most of them are not deserving of mention here. Bradbury’s true canvas–the one that made him such a beloved literary figure–was the page.