Quentin James Reynolds (April 11, 1902 – March 17, 1965) was an American

journalist A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalis ...

and

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

war correspondent. He also played

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team wi ...

for one season in the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the majo ...

(NFL) with the Brooklyn Lions.

Early life and education

Reynolds was born on April 11, 1902, in

The Bronx The Bronx () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the state of New York. It is south of Westchester County; north and east of the New York City borough of Manhattan, across the Harlem River; and north of the New ...

. He attended Manual Training High School in

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

and

Brown University Brown University is a private research university in Providence, Rhode Island. Brown is the seventh-oldest institution of higher education in the United States, founded in 1764 as the College in the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providenc ...

. At Brown, he played

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football in the United States, American football rules first gained populari ...

as a tackle and starred as a

breaststroke Breaststroke is a human swimming, swimming style in which the swimmer is on their chest and the torso does not rotate. It is the most popular recreational style due to the swimmer's head being out of the water a large portion of the time, and ...

r on the swimming team.

Career

As an

associate editor An editor-in-chief (EIC), also known as lead editor or chief editor, is a publication's editorial leader who has final responsibility for its operations and policies. The highest-ranking editor of a publication may also be titled editor, managing ...

at ''

Collier's Weekly ''Collier's'' was an American general interest magazine founded in 1888 by Peter Fenelon Collier. It was launched as ''Collier's Once a Week'', then renamed in 1895 as ''Collier's Weekly: An Illustrated Journal'', shortened in 1905 to ''Colli ...

'' from 1933 to 1945, Reynolds averaged 20 articles a year. He also published 25 books, including ''The Wounded Don't Cry'', ''London Diary'', ''Dress Rehearsal'', and ''Courtroom'', a biography of lawyer Samuel Leibowitz. His autobiography was titled ''By Quentin Reynolds''. After World War II, Reynolds was best known for his 1955

libel Defamation is the act of communicating to a third party false statements about a person, place or thing that results in damage to its reputation. It can be spoken (slander) or written (libel). It constitutes a tort or a crime. The legal defi ...

suit against right-wing Hearst columnist

Westbrook Pegler Francis James Westbrook Pegler (August 2, 1894 – June 24, 1969) was an American journalist and writer. He was a popular columnist in the 1930s and 1940s famed for his opposition to the New Deal and labor unions. Pegler aimed his pen at president ...

, who called him "yellow" and an "absentee war correspondent". Reynolds, represented by noted attorney Louis Nizer, won $175,001 (approximately $1.9 million in 2022 dollars), at the time the largest libel judgment ever. The trial was later made into a Broadway play, ''A Case of Libel'', which was twice adapted as TV movies. In 1953, Reynolds was the victim of a major literary hoax when he published ''The Man Who Wouldn't Talk'', the supposedly true story of a Canadian war hero,

George Dupre George Dupre (1903–1982) was a Canadian man who falsely claimed to have been a Special Operations Executive operative during World War II. In 1953, Quentin Reynolds, an ex- war correspondent, had written a book ''The Man Who Wouldn't Talk' ...

, who claimed to have been captured and tortured by German soldiers. When the hoax was exposed,

Bennett Cerf Bennett Alfred Cerf (May 25, 1898 – August 27, 1971) was an American writer, publisher, and co-founder of the American publishing firm Random House. Cerf was also known for his own compilations of jokes and puns, for regular personal appearanc ...

, of

Random House Random House is an American book publisher and the largest general-interest paperback publisher in the world. The company has several independently managed subsidiaries around the world. It is part of Penguin Random House, which is owned by Germ ...

, Reynolds's publisher, reclassified the book as fiction. On December 8, 1950, Reynolds debuted as a television actor in "The Ponzi Story", an episode of '' Pulitzer Prize Playhouse''. Reynolds was a personal friend of British media mogul Sidney Bernstein. In 1956, Reynolds paid a visit to

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

to co-host ''Meet the People'', the launch night program for

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The ...

-based

Granada Television ITV Granada, formerly known as Granada Television, is the ITV franchisee for the North West of England and Isle of Man. From 1956 to 1968 it broadcast to both the north west and Yorkshire but only on weekdays as ABC Weekend Television was its ...

(now ITV Granada) which Bernstein founded. Reynolds was a member of

Delta Tau Delta Delta Tau Delta () is a United States-based international Greek letter college fraternity. Delta Tau Delta was founded at Bethany College, Bethany, Virginia, (now West Virginia) in 1858. The fraternity currently has around 130 collegiate chapter ...

International Fraternity.

Death

Reynolds died of cancer, on March 17, 1965, at Travis Air Force Base Hospital in

Fairfield, California Fairfield is a city in and the county seat of Solano County, California, in the North Bay (San Francisco Bay Area), North Bay sub-region of the San Francisco Bay Area. It is generally considered the midpoint between the cities of San Francisco ...

Books

* ''Parlor, Bedlam and Bath'' (with S. J. Perelman), Liveright, 1930 * ''The Wounded Don't Cry'', E P Dutton, 1941 * ''A London Diary'', Angus & Robertson, 1941 * ''Convoy'', Random House, 1942 * ''Only the Stars are Neutral'', Random House, 1942; Blue Ribbon Books, 1943 ONLY_THE_STARS_ARE_NEUTRAL

* ''Dress Rehearsal: The Story of Dieppe'', Random House, 1943 * ''The Curtain Rises'', Random House, 1944 * ''Officially Dead: The Story of Commander C D Smith, USN; The Prisoner the Japs Couldn’t Hold No. 511'' Random House, 1945 (Published by Pyramid Books under the title ''He Came Back'' in multiple printings in the 1960s and early 1970s.) * ''70,000 to 1 (Seventy Thousand to One); True War Adventure'', 1946 * ''The Wright Brothers, Pioneers of American Aviation'', Random House Landmark Books, 1950 * ''Courtroom; The Story of Samuel S Leibowitz'', Farrar, Straus and Co, 1950 * ''Custer's Last Stand'', Random House, 1951 * ''The Battle of Britain'', Random House, 1953 * ''The Amazing Mr Doolittle; A Biography of Lieutenant General James H Doolittle'', Appleton-Century-Crofts, 1953 * ''The Man Who Wouldn't Talk'', 1953 * ''I, Willie Sutton'', Farrar, Straus and Young, 1953 * ''The FBI'', Random House Landmark Books, 1954 * ''Headquarters'', Harper & Brothers, 1955 * ''The Fiction Factory; or, From Pulp Row to Quality Street; The Story of 100 years of Publishing at Street & Smith'', Random House 1955 * ''They Fought for the Sky; The Dramatic Story of the First War in the Air'', Rinehart & Company, 1957 * ''Minister of Death: The Adolf Eichmann Story'' (by Zwy Aldouby and Quentin James Reynolds), Viking 1960 * ''Known But to God; The Story of the “Unknowns” of America’s War Memorials'', John Day 1960 * ''Winston Churchill'', Random House 1963 * ''By Quentin Reynolds'', McGraw Hill, 1963 * ''Britain Can Take It!'' (based on the film) * ''Don't Think It Hasn't Been Fun'' * ''The Life of Saint Patrick'' * ''Macapagal, the Incorruptible'' * A Secret for Two * ''With Fire and Sword; Great War Adventures''

Screenplays

* ''

Call Northside 777 ''Call Northside 777'' is a 1948 reality-based newspaper drama directed by Henry Hathaway. The film parallels the true story of a Chicago reporter who proved that a man jailed for murder was wrongly convicted 11 years before. James Stewart stars ...

'' (1948) * ''

The Miracle of the Bells ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the ...

'' (1948)

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Reynolds, Quentin 1902 births 1965 deaths 20th-century American journalists 20th-century American non-fiction writers 20th-century American male writers 20th-century American screenwriters American football guards American football tackles American male breaststroke swimmers American male journalists American male screenwriters American military writers American war correspondents of World War II Brooklyn Lions players Brown Bears football players Brown Bears men's swimmers Journalists from California Writers from the Bronx Writers from Brooklyn Writers from San Francisco Screenwriters from New York (state) Screenwriters from California Sportspeople from the Bronx Players of American football from New York City Sportspeople from Brooklyn Deaths from cancer in California Burials at Holy Cross Cemetery, Brooklyn