Uris--Aspen Times
Hyfler/Rosner
By Eben Harrell
Special to The Aspen Times
Leon Uris, a longtime Aspen resident whose panoramic novels depicted
determined individuals caught in the grips of history, died at his New York
home Saturday of natural causes. He was 78.
The New York Times once described Uris as "a storyteller, in a direct line
from those men who sat around fires in the days before history and made the
tribe more human."
A prolific writer who drew from themes that echoed his own life, his
best-known work was perhaps "Exodus," the story of the struggle to establish
and defend the state of Israel. Uris also authored "Trinity," which depicted
Ireland's fierce struggle for independence.
Uris, who dropped out of school at 17 to join the U.S. Marines, served in
the South Pacific from 1942-1945, an experience which provided the
inspiration for his debut work in 1953, "Battle Cry," a novel about a
battalion of Marines during World War II.
In 1956, Uris, the son of Eastern-European Jewish immigrants, covered the
Arab-Israeli wars as a correspondent. Two years later appeared "Exodus." The
book was an immediate publishing phenomenon and became an international
bestseller translated into some 50 languages.
It was on the wave of this success that Uris first came to Aspen in the
early 1960s. An avid tennis player and skier, he took to the area
immediately and in 1963 bought a parcel on mostly undeveloped Red Mountain.
His house at 005 Wrights Road, designed by Fritz Benedict, served as his
home until 1989.
After a divorce in 1965, Uris married Margery Edwards in 1968. In events
that shocked the town, Edwards was found dead less than a year later. The
death was ruled a suicide.
It was in Aspen that same year that Uris met his third wife, the
photographer Jill Peabody. They settled in Aspen and raised their two
children, Conor and Rachel.
Uris became deeply attached to Colorado. Jill, who divorced Leon in 1988,
remembers this attachment.
"He loved to ski, play tennis, walk his dogs, even dirt bike - anything
outdoors," she said. "Most people don't know this, but he was a certified
ski instructor. Fred Iselin certified him in the '70s."
Uris was known to rent a room at the Holiday Inn at the base of Buttermilk
so that he could watch Denver Broncos games on cable television.
Aspen was also a sanctuary that allowed Uris to delve undistracted into his
intricate, sweeping narratives. Ever the dedicated Marine, Uris was known
for his diligence and attention to detail in research, but he was just as
ferocious in his approach to writing itself, often writing undisturbed for
up to 18 hours a sitting.
Ruggedly self-reliant, Uris kept his high school report card (marked an F)
framed above his desk for motivation, according to his former research
assistant, Diane Eagle-Kataoka.
"While he did most of his research at the location his book was going to be
set, spending up to a year sometimes in foreign countries, Aspen was always
a refuge of sorts where he could pursue his actual writing in an almost
hermetic way," she said.
This fruitful relationship spawned some of Uris' most complex works,
including "QB VII" (1970), "Trinity" (1976), "The Haj" (1984), and "Topaz"
(1967), the latter of which was adapted into a film by Alfred Hitchcock. He
also collaborated with local composer Walt Smith to produce "Ari" (1971), a
Broadway musical.
Uris hadn't visited Aspen in years as the thin air put too much stress on
his failing health. He had also been busy writing. A novel, "O'Hara's
Choice," will be published posthumously by Harper Collins. Those close to
him say it is his most personal novel.
The Marine Corps will give him a traditional memorial service in Quantico,
Va. A complicated man, he asked for the simplest of epitaphs. His tombstone
will read "American Marine Jewish Writer."
Leon Uris is survived by five children and two grandchildren.