Marie Harriet Brenner(born December 15, 1949) is an American author,investigative journalistand writer-at-large forVanity Fair.[1]She has also written forNew York,The New Yorkerand theBoston Herald[2]and has taught atColumbia University's Graduate School of Journalism.[3]Her 1996Vanity Fairarticle ontobaccoinsiderJeffrey Wigand,"The Man Who Knew Too Much", inspired the 1999 movieThe Insider,starringRussell CroweandAl Pacino.Her February 1997Vanity Fairarticle "American Tragedy: The Ballad ofRichard Jewell"partially inspired the 2019 filmRichard Jewelldirected byClint Eastwood.[4]
Marie Brenner | |
|---|---|
 Marie Brenner | |
| Born | Marie Harriet Brenner December 15, 1949 San Antonio,Texas,U.S. |
| Occupation(s) | Author, investigative journalist |
| Spouses | Jonathan Schwartz
(m.1979;div.1984)Ernest Harold Pomerantz
(m.1985) |
| Children | 1 |
| Relatives | Anita Brenner(aunt) |
Career
editBrenner earned aBachelor of Fine Artsfrom theUniversity of Texas at Austinand received aM.A.fromNew York University Film School.[5]She was the first femalebaseballcolumnist covering theAmerican League,traveling with theBoston Red Soxfor theBoston Heraldduring the 1979 season.[6]Brenner worked as a contributing editor forNew Yorkmagazinefrom 1980 to 1984, and covered the royal wedding ofPrince CharlesandLady Diana Spencer.[7]
Brenner joinedVanity Fairas a special correspondent in 1984. She left the magazine in 1992 to become a staff writer atThe New Yorker,returning toVanity Fairin 1995 as writer-at-large.[2]Her 1996 article forVanity FaironJeffrey Wigandand the tobacco wars, titled "The Man Who Knew Too Much",[8]was made into the 1999 feature filmThe Insider,starring Russell Crowe and Al Pacino, and directed byMichael Mann.It was nominated for sevenAcademy Awards,including Best Picture.[9]
In 2012, Brenner penned a piece entitled "Marie Colvin's Private War", forVanity Fair.This article was later adapted into the filmA Private War,directed by first time director,Matthew Heineman,and starring Academy Award nominated actress,Rosamund Pike.Pike was nominated forBest Actress in a Motion Picture - Dramaat the76th Golden Globe Awards,while Heineman was recognized with a nomination from theDirectors Guild of Americawith a nomination forOutstanding Directorial Achievement of a First-Time Feature Film Director.
In 1997, she wrote an article forVanity FaironRichard Jewell,the security guard hailed as a hero, then incorrectly suspected, of theOlympic Park bombingin 1996. Titled "American Tragedy: The Ballad of Richard Jewell", it was, along with the 2019 bookThe Suspect: An Olympic Bombing, the FBI, the Media, and Richard Jewell, the Man Caught in the Middleby Kent Alexander and Kevin Salwen, the basis of the 2019 filmRichard Jewell.[4][10][11][12]
Brenner's 2002Vanity Fairarticle, "The Enron Wars," delving into the investigation into theEnronscandals, made national news when SenatorPeter Fitzgeraldused it to question witnesses testifying before asenatecommittee.[13]
In 2009, theManhattan Theater Clubannounced that it had commissionedAlfred Uhryto adapt Brenner's memoirApples and Oranges: My Brother and Me, Lost and Foundfor the stage.[14]
In 2020, Brenner was granted 18-month access to the New York Presbyterian hospital, depicted in her bookThe Desperate Hours: One Hospital's Fight to Save a City on the Pandemic's Front Lines,published in 2022.[15]
An archive of Brenner's work is stored at the Howard Gotlieb Archival Research Center atBoston University.[16]
Incident with Donald Trump
editDuring a black-tie gala atTavern on the Greenin 1991,Donald Trumppoured a glass of wine down Brenner's suit because she had written an unflattering piece about him earlier that year.[17]
Personal life
editBrenner was born December 15, 1949, inSan Antonio, Texas,to Milton Conrad Brenner and Thelma (Long) Brenner. She grew up in San Antonio and moved to New York City in 1970.
Her father was chairman of Solo Serve Corporation, a chain ofTexasdiscount storesstarted by her grandfather Isidor Brenner. Isidor, born in 1872, was aJewishemigrant to Texas from theDuchy of Kurland(in modernLatvia), in 1892. He married Paula, a Jewish emigrant fromRiga,Latvia, by way of Chicago.[18]The couple moved their family back and forth between Mexico and Texas during the first years of theMexican Revolution,[19]finally settling the family in San Antonio, in 1916.[20]
She is the niece ofAnita Brenner,anthropologist,author, and one of the first women to be a regular contributor toThe New York Times.She had an older brother Carl, a lawyer turned apple farmer who was the focus of hermemoir,Apples and Oranges: My Brother and Me, Lost and Found.[21]
Bibliography
edit- The Desperate Hours: One Hospital's Fight to Save a City on the Pandemic's Front Lines,New York: Flatiron Books. 2022. ISBN 9781250805737.
- A Private War: Marie Colvin and Other Tales of Heroes, Scoundrels and Renegades,London: Simon & Schuster, UK Ltd. 2018.ISBN9781471180705,OCLC1040537511[22][23]
- Apples and Oranges: My Brother and Me, Lost and Found,New York: Picador, 2008.ISBN9780312428808,OCLC1084679418
- Great Dames: What I Learned from Older Women,New York: Three Rivers Press, 2000.ISBN9780609807095,OCLC47051999
- House of Dreams: The Collapse of an American Dynasty,London: Joseph, 1988.ISBN9780718132477,OCLC9672879
- Intimate Distance,New York: William Morrow and Co., 1983.ISBN9780688021375,OCLC1084921214
- Going Hollywood: An Insider's Look at Power and Pretense in the Movie Business,New York: Delacorte Press, 1978.ISBN9780440030188,OCLC3186647
- Tell Me Everything,New York: New American Library, 1976.ISBN9780451076854,OCLC5898486
References
edit- ^Panero, James(2008-06-29)."Brother, Who Art Thou?".The New York Times.Retrieved2010-05-12.
- ^ab"Marie Brenner".Vanity Fair.
- ^"The George T. Delacorte Center".Columbia University.[permanent dead link]
- ^abAlas, Mert."AMERICAN NIGHTMARE: The Ballad of RICHARD JEWELL | Vanity Fair | February 1997".Vanity Fair.Retrieved2019-12-16.
- ^"Marie Brenner Is Married to Ernest H. Pomerantz".The New York Times.1985-04-15.Retrieved2010-05-12.
- ^"Press Release: Marie Brenner to Speak at Friends of the libraries' Annual Meeting".Boston University. Archived fromthe originalon 2006-09-11.
- ^Marie Brenner (1981-08-03)."The Wedding of the Century".New York Magazine.Retrieved2016-03-28.
- ^"The Man Who Knew Too Much".Vanity Fair. Archived fromthe originalon 2018-08-04.Retrieved2009-06-09.
- ^The InsideratIMDb
- ^Climek, Chris."Review: 'Richard Jewell' Clears One Name While Smearing Another".NPR.Retrieved2019-12-13.
- ^Kent Alexander and Kevin Salwen (2019).The Suspect: An Olympic Bombing, the FBI, the Media, and Richard Jewell, the Man Caught in the Middle,Abrams,ISBN1683355245.
- ^Marc Tracy(12 December 2019)."Clint Eastwood's 'Richard Jewell' Is at the Center of a Media Storm".The New York Times.Retrieved2019-12-14.
- ^"Enron Executives Testify Before Senate Commerce Committee".CNN. 2001-02-07.Retrieved2010-05-12.
- ^Kenneth Jones."Uhry Will Adapt Brenner's Memoir for MTC; Meadow to Direct".Playbill.
- ^"Review:" The Desperate Hours, "Marie Brenner".The New York Times.2022-06-19.Retrieved2023-07-11.
- ^"Marie Brenner: Insider Investigations".Howard Gotlieb Archival Research Center at Boston University. Archived fromthe originalon 2008-07-24.
- ^Brown, Tina (November 14, 2017).The Vanity Fair Diaries: 1983 - 1992.Henry Holt and Co.ISBN978-1627791366.
- ^Marie Brenner (2008). Apples and Oranges: My Brother and Me, Lost and Found. New York: Sarah Crichton Books. pp. 99-100 and 104-105.ISBN9780374173524
- ^Martinez del Campo, Lynda (August 3, 2013)."Anita Brenner: A Bridge Between Nations and Religions".Mexican Museums and Mavens.Retrieved7 March2015.
- ^Villela, Khristaan D. (9 March 2012)."Jazz Age Chronicles: Anita Brenner on Mexico's Avant-Garde Art and Artists." Review of Avant-Garde Art and Artists in Mexico: Anita Brenner Journals of the Roaring Twenties, ed. Susanna Glusker ".Pasatiempo:18–23.Retrieved8 March2015.
- ^Jennie Yabroff."Brothers and Sisters".Newsweek.
- ^Catsoulis, Jeannette (2018-11-01)."Review: Marie Colvin Fights 'A Private War'".The New York Times.ISSN0362-4331.Retrieved2019-05-13.
- ^"a private war marie colvin - Yahoo Search Results".search.yahoo.Retrieved2019-05-13.
Further reading
edit- Art at Our Doorstep: San Antonio Writers and Artistsfeaturing Marie Brenner. Edited by Nan Cuba and Riley Robinson (Trinity University Press,2008).
External links
edit