Ken Kesey

Ken Kesey (September 17, 1935 – November 10, 2001) was an American author, probably best known for his novel One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, and as a cultural icon who some consider a link between the "beat generation" of the 1950s and the "hippies" of the 1960s.

Miscellaneous facts and events

Kesey's exploits with his band of Merry Pranksters were immortalized in the Tom Wolfe book, "The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test".

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Sometimes a Great Notion was made into a 1971 film starring Paul Newman; it was nominated for two Academy Awards and in 1972 was the first film shown in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania on a new television network called HBO.

Related Topics:
1971 - Paul Newman - Academy Award - Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania - Television network - HBO

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In 1975, Milos Forman directed a screen adaptation of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest starring Jack Nicholson which won 5 Academy Awards: Academy Award for Best Picture, Academy Award for Best Actor (Nicholson), Academy Award for Best Actress (Louise Fletcher), Academy Award for Best Director (Forman), Academy Award for Writing Adapted Screenplay (Lawrence Hauben, Bo Goldman). Ken Kesey claimed to have never seen the movie because of a dispute over the $20,000 he was initially paid for the film rights and he loathed the fact that the film was not narrated, as it was in the book, by the character Chief Bromden.

Related Topics:
1975 - Milos Forman - Jack Nicholson - Academy Award for Best Picture - Academy Award for Best Actor - Academy Award for Best Actress - Academy Award for Best Director - Academy Award for Writing Adapted Screenplay

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Between 1974 and 1981 he self-published six issues of a literary magazine called Spit in the Ocean. Issue 1, Old In The Streets, was edited by Kesey and includes work from Wendell Berry and Paul Krassner. Issue 2, Getting There From Here, was also edited by Kesey includes work from Studs Terkel, Kate Millet, and Stewart Brand. Issue 3, Communication With Higher Intelligence, was edited by Dr. Timothy Leary. Issue 4, Straight From The Gut, ws edited by Lee Marrs. Issue 5, The Pyramid Issue, was edited by Richard and Elaine Loren. Issue 6, The Cassady Issue, features an unpublished manuscript of Neal Cassady and pieces by John Clellon Holmes, Larry McMurtry, Jerry Garcia and William Burroughs.

Related Topics:
1974 - 1981 - Wendell Berry - Paul Krassner - Studs Terkel - Kate Millet - Stewart Brand - Dr. Timothy Leary - Neal Cassady - John Clellon Holmes - Larry McMurtry - Jerry Garcia - William Burroughs

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Kesey won the Robert Kirsch Award in 1991, recognizing him for a body of work written in or about the American West.

Related Topics:
Robert Kirsch Award - 1991

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His third major novel, Sailor Song, was published in 1992.

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Kesey died on November 10, 2001, following liver cancer surgery.

Related Topics:
November 10 - 2001

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