Who is Maurice Sendak? Find Net Worth, Quote, Awards, Fact, Wiki

Maurice Sendak Wiki Biography

Maurice Bernard Sendak was an American illustrator and writer of children’s books. He became widely known for his book Where the Wild Things Are, first published in 1963. 

Full Name Maurice Sendak
Net Worth $20 Million
Date Of Birth June 10, 1928, Brooklyn, New York City, New York, United States
Died May 8, 2012, Danbury, Connecticut, United States
Place Of Birth Brooklyn
Profession Writer, Illustrator, Artist, Author, Television producer, Film Producer, Production Designer, Visual Artist
Education Art Students League of New York
Nationality United States of America
Parents Sadie Schindler, Philip Sendak
Siblings Jack Sendak, Natalie Sendak
Nicknames Maurice Bernard Sendak , The Picasso of Children’s Books
IMDB http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0784124
Awards Caldecott Medal, Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award
Nominations Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Children’s Animated Program, Locus Award for Best Art Book, Goodreads Choice Awards Best Picture Books, National Book Award for Children’s Books (Paperback)
Movies , Where the Wild Things Are, Little Bear, more
TV Shows Seven Little Monsters, Little Bear
Trademark
1 His works frequently depict a child entering an imaginative or dream related world or setting.
Quote
1 When I was a child, and I was shopping with my mother and she was holding my hand because I was a very little boy, and I passed the newsstand, and I saw a picture of a the Lindbergh baby dead in the woods… and I took my mother to see it. And apparently nobody but me saw it… It’s only in the past few years that I realized Colonel Lindbergh was so enraged that that picture was used and it was taken off the afternoon edition; I saw the morning edition. I spent my whole life believing I saw that picture. But that to me is why children are so important: they see things.
2 The town that my mother lived in and was born in… the town was burnt to the ground by the Germans, and my grandmother and her children got out and came to America. Tiresome, deadly people. I mean, yes, we’re so happy for those who survived, but some of them were just like regular people. You hated them. When I finally got to envision what the Wild Things looked like, that’s what they looked like: those greedy uncles and aunts who came to eat my food.
3 I want to kill everybody in publishing; I want to see them all laid out.
4 If Ursula Nordstrom hadn’t pursued everybody on the board of the Caldecott Newberry Committee, I’d never have won. I was the bad boy; I was always into bad-boy books.
5 I remember my own childhood vividly – I knew terrible things. But I knew I mustn’t let adults know I knew. It would scare them.
6 I refuse to lie to children. I refuse to cater to the bullshit of innocence.
7 [from an interview in 2011] I have nothing now but praise for my life. I’m not unhappy. I cry a lot because I miss people. They die and I can’t stop them. They leave me and I love them more. There are so many beautiful things in the world which I will have to leave when I die, but I’m ready, I’m ready, I’m ready.
8 [Interview by Stephen Colbert on The Colbert Report (2005), 1/25/2012] Newt Gingrich is an idiot of great renown. There is something so hopelessly gross and vile about him, that it’s hard to take him seriously.
9 All I wanted was to be straight so my parents could be happy. They never, never, never knew. [In a 2008 New York Times interview, talking about never telling his parents he was gay.].
10 I think Disney is terrible for young children.
11 There must be more to life than having everything.
Fact
1 Sendak and companion Dr. Eugene Glynn lived together for 50 years before Glynn’s May 2007 death from lung cancer.
2 His studio was a large barn in Connecticut.
3 His most famous book, “Where the Wild Things Are,” was originally going to be titled “Where the Wild Horses Are.” He gave that up when he discovered that he couldn’t draw horses.
4 Several of the Wild Things were actually caricatures of relatives who used to visit his parents’ home when he was a child.
5 His book “Chicken Soup with Rice” was set to music by and sung by Carole King as part of Really Rosie (1975).
6 He was awarded the American National Medal of the Arts in 1996 by the National Endowment of the Arts in Washington, DC.
7 Was a writer and illustrator of children’s literature.
8 Won the Caldecott Medal in 1964 for the book “Where the Wild Things Are.”.
9 Was awarded an honorary doctorate from the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, at the 1998 commencement ceremonies for his services to children’s literature.
10 Was close friends with playwright Tony Kushner. They collaborated on the book “Brundibar,” and he made a cameo in the HBO version of Kushner’s Angels in America (2003).
11 Co-founder of the Night Kitchen Theater and the developer of plays, musicals, and films based on his books.
12 Worked also as a designer for ballet and opera.
13 The Educational Paperback Association listed him in its Top-100 Children’s Authors.
14 Produced more than a dozen books of his own and illustrated more than seventy stories by other authors.
15 Said he set his goal to become a writer and an illustrator when he was four or five years old.

Writer

Title Year Status Character
Higglety Pigglety Pop! or There Must Be More to Life 2010 Video short book “Higglety Pigglety Pop! or There Must Be More to Life”
Where the Wild Things Are 2009 book
Little Bear 1995-2003 TV Series creator – 22 episodes
Seven Little Monsters 2000-2003 TV Series based on the book by – 49 episodes
The Little Bear Movie 2001 characters
In the Night Kitchen 1987 Short from the book by
Nutcracker 1986 conceived by
Higglety Pigglety Pop! 1985 TV Movie libretto
Where the Wild Things Are 1984 TV Movie libretto
Simple Gifts 1977 TV Movie segment “Prologue”
Chicken Soup with Rice 1975 Video short story by
Really Rosie 1975 TV Movie story
Where the Wild Things Are 1973 Short book

Producer

Title Year Status Character
Higglety Pigglety Pop! or There Must Be More to Life 2010 Video short executive producer
Where the Wild Things Are 2009 producer
The Little Bear Movie 2001 executive producer
Seven Little Monsters 2000 TV Series executive producer
George and Martha 1999-2000 TV Series executive producer – 26 episodes
Little Bear 1995 TV Series executive producer

Production Designer

Title Year Status Character
Hansel und Gretel 1999 TV Movie
Nutcracker 1986
Higglety Pigglety Pop! 1985 TV Movie designer
Where the Wild Things Are 1984 TV Movie designer
Live from Lincoln Center 1983 TV Series 1 episode
The Love for Three Oranges 1982 TV Movie

Costume Designer

Title Year Status Character
Last Dance 2002 Documentary
Hansel und Gretel 1999 TV Movie
Nutcracker 1986
Live from Lincoln Center 1983 TV Series 1 episode

Actor

Title Year Status Character
Angels in America 2003 TV Mini-Series Rabbi on Bench #2
Chicken Soup with Rice 1975 Video short Jenny’s Bark (voice)
Really Rosie 1975 TV Movie Jenny’s Bark (voice)

Art Department

Title Year Status Character
Last Dance 2002 Documentary set designer
Jackanory 1971 TV Series illustrator – 2 episodes

Miscellaneous

Title Year Status Character
Northern Exposure 1991 TV Series “Where the Wild Things Are” copyright 1963 by – 1 episode
Return to Oz 1985 preliminary artwork – uncredited
Zlateh the Goat 1966 Short consultant

Director

Title Year Status Character
Chicken Soup with Rice 1975 Video short
Really Rosie 1975 TV Movie

Art Director

Title Year Status Character
Hansel and Gretel 1998 TV Movie
Really Rosie 1975 TV Movie

Soundtrack

Title Year Status Character
The Dresden Dolls: In Paradise 2005 Video writer: “Pierre”
Seasons of the Heart 1994 TV Movie as Maurice Zendak, “Where the Wild Things Are”

Music Department

Title Year Status Character
Chicken Soup with Rice 1975 Video short lyrics by

Thanks

Title Year Status Character
Her 2013 dedicatee
Tell Them Anything You Want: A Portrait of Maurice Sendak 2009 TV Short documentary very special thanks
Labyrinth 1986 acknowledgment
Lois Gibbs and the Love Canal 1982 TV Movie special thanks

Self

Title Year Status Character
Far Out Isn’t Far Enough: The Tomi Ungerer Story 2012 Documentary Himself
The Colbert Report 2012 TV Series Himself
HBO First Look 2009 TV Series documentary Himself
Tell Them Anything You Want: A Portrait of Maurice Sendak 2009 TV Short documentary Himself
Last Dance 2002 Documentary Himself
Great Performances 1994 TV Series Himself
American Masters 1987 TV Series documentary Himself
The World of Maurice Sendak 1986 Documentary short Himself (uncredited)
Today 1975 TV Series Himself
Galaxie 1966 Himself

Archive Footage

Title Year Status Character
The Colbert Report 2012 TV Series Himself

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