Danielle Steel

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Danielle Fernande Dominique Schuelein-Steele
Born August 14, 1947 (1947-08-14) (age 60)
New York, New York (U.S.) Flag of the United States
Pen name Danielle Steel
Occupation Novelist
Nationality American Flag of the United States
Writing period 1973 - Present
Genres mainstream, Drama
Official website

Danielle Fernande Dominique Schuelein-Steel (born on August 14, 1947 in New York City, New York), is best known as Danielle Steel and is reportedly the best selling author in the world.

Best known for her mainstream drama novels, Steel has sold more than 550 million copies of her books (as of 2005). Her novels have been on the New York Times bestseller list for over 390 consecutive weeks[1] and 22 have been adapted for television.

Contents

[edit] Biography

[edit] Early years

Danielle Fernande Dominique Schuelein-Steel was born on August 14, 1947 in New York, NY. Her parents were John Schulein Steel, a descendant of the founders of Lowenbrau beer and Norma da Câmara Stone Reis, the daughter of a Portuguese diplomat.[2] Steel spent much of her early childhood in France[3], where from an early age she was included in her parents' dinner parties, giving her an opportunity to observe the habits and lives of the wealthy and famous.[2] Her parents divorced when she was seven, however, and she was raised primarily in New York by her father, rarely seeing her mother, who had moved to Europe.[1]

Steel started writing stories as a child, and by her late teens had begun writing poetry.[4] A graduate of the Lycée Français de New York, class of 1965,[5] she studied literature design and fashion design[4], first at Parsons School of Design in 1963 and then at New York University from 1963-1967.[6]

[edit] Becoming a novelist

In 1965, when she was only 18, Steel married banker Claude-Eric Lazard[7] While a young wife, and still attending New York University, Steel began writing, completing her first manuscript the following year, when she was nineteen.[4] After the birth of their daughter, Beatrix, in 1968,[8] Steel became a copywriter for an advertising agency, then worked for a public relations agency in San Francisco. A client was highly impressed with her press releases and encouraged her to concentrate on writing books.[2]

After nine years of marriage, Steel's relationship with Lazard ended. Shortly before their divorce was finalized[8] her first novel, Going Home, was published. The novel contained many of the themes that her writing would become known for, including a focus on family issues and the impact of actions taken in the past on events of the present or future.[9]

[edit] Personal turmoil

Steel married again, enjoying a jailhouse ceremony with Danny Zugelder. The marriage ended quickly and Zugelder was later convicted of a series of rapes. Steel married her third husband, heroin-addicted William Toth, the day after her divorce from Zugelder was final, while she was 8 1/2 months pregnant with Toth's child.[7] This marriage ended within two years, and Steel successfully petitioned to have Toth's parental rights to their son Nicholas terminated.[10]

Drawing on her own personal romantic difficulties, Steel wrote Passion's Promise, about a socialite who falls in love with an ex-con, after the demise of her second marriage. Shortly after she divorced Toth, Steel released Remembrance, in which the husband is a heroin addict.[8]

[edit] Happier times

Still optimistic about finding love, Steel married for the fourth time in 1981, to vintner John Traina.[8] Traina subsequently adopted Steel's son Nick and gave him his family name,[11] and Steel adopted his two sons Trevor and Todd.[7][12] Together they had an additional five children, Samantha, Victoria, Vanessa, Maxx and Zara.[8][7]

Coincidentally, beginning with her marriage to Traina in 1981, Steel has been a near-permanent fixture on the New York Times hardcover and paperback bestsellers lists. In 1989, she was listed in the Guinness Book of World Records for having a book on the New York Times Bestseller List for the most consecutive weeks of any author—381 consecutive weeks at that time.[9] Since her first book was published, every one of her novels has hit bestseller lists in paperback, and each one released in hardback has also been a hardback bestseller.[1] During this time Steel also contributed to her first non-fiction work. Having a Baby was published in 1984 and featured a chapter by Steel about suffering through miscarriage.[13] The same year she also published a book of poetry, Love: Poems.[14]

Steel also ventured into children's fiction, penning a series of 10 illustrated books for young readers. These books, known as the "Max and Martha" series, aim to help children face real life problems: new baby, new school, loss of loved one, etc. In addition, Steel has authored the "Freddie" series. These 4 books address other real life situations: first night away from home, trip to the doctor, etc.[14]

Determined to spend as much time as possible with her own children, Steel often wrote at night, making do with only four hours of sleep, so that she could be with her children during the day.[1] Steel is a prolific author, often releasing several books per year.[9] Each book takes 2 1/2 years to complete,[4], so Steel has developed an ability to juggle up to five projects at once, researching one book while outlining another, then writing and editing additional books.[9]

[edit] Nicholas Traina

His Bright Light, The story of her son, Nick Traina
His Bright Light, The story of her son, Nick Traina

In 1993 Steel sued a writer who intended to disclose in her book that her son Nick was fathered by William Toth instead of her current husband John Traina, despite the fact that adoption records are sealed in California.[1] A San Francisco judge made a highly unusual ruling in ordering the lawsuit sealed and kept secret after its filing. The order was later overturned by the California Supreme Court, who ruled that because Steel was famous, her son's adoption did not have the same privacy right, [1] and the book was allowed to be published.[15] At the time, none of her children with Traina knew that Nicholas had been adopted. Steel blamed this fight, and other revelations published in the biography written by Lorenzo Benet and Vickie L. Bane, for the breakup of her marriage to Traina.[1] Following their divorce, Steel used her experience to write Malice, about a happy marriage which is destroyed when the tabloids discover the wife's secret past.[8]

The son at the center of the lawsuits, Nicholas Traina, committed suicide in 1997 as a result of bipolar disorder and drug abuse.[11] Traina was the lead singer of San Francisco punk bands Link 80 and Knowledge. In honor of his memory, Steel wrote the nonfiction book His Bright Light, about Nick's life and death. Proceeds of the book, which reached the New York Times NonFiction Bestseller List[14] were used to found the Nick Traina Foundation, which Steel runs, to fund organizations dedicated to treating mental illness.[16] To gain more recognition for children's mental illnesses, Steel has lobbied for legislation in Washington, holds an annual fundraiser (known as The Star Ball) in San Francisco,[12] and serves on the Advisory Council of the Center for the Advancement of Children's Mental Health at Columbia University.[17]

[edit] 1997 - present

Steel married for a fifth time, to Silicon Valley financier Tom Perkins, but the marriage lasted less than two years, ending in 1999.[18] Steel has said that her novel The Klone and I was inspired by a private joke between herself and Perkins.[19] In 2006, Perkins dedicated his novel Sex and the Single Zillionaire to Steel.

After years of near-constant writing, Steel took a four-month break in 2003 to open an art gallery in San Francisco. The Steel Gallery of Contemporary Art exhibits the paintings and sculptures of emerging artists, especially those whose work Steel collects. The gallery subsequently closed June 4, 2006.[20]

In 2006 Steel reached an agreement with Elizabeth Arden to launch a new perfume, Danielle by Danielle Steel. The new fragrance, made of mandarin, jasmine, orchid, rose, amber and musk scents, is available only in selected stores. The target audience for the fragrance is readers of Steel's novels, and she believes that the new scent reflects her characters, saying "Fragrances represent so many aspects of life that my characters experience - commitment, love, and emotion."[21]

Steel lives in San Francisco,[20] but also maintains a residence in France where she spends several months of each year and a beach house in La Californie near St. Tropez.[1] Despite her public image and varied pursuits, Steel is known to be shy[20] and because of that and her desire to protect her children from the tabloids[1], she rarely grants interviews or public appearances.[22] Her San Francisco home was built in 1913 as the mansion of sugar tycoon Adolph B. Spreckels.[23]

[edit] Writing

Going Home
Going Home

Steel's novels have been translated into 28 languages and can be found in 47 countries across the globe.[9] The books, often described as "formulaic,"[24] tend to involve the characters in a crisis of some sort which threatens their relationship. Many of her characters are considered over-the-top, making her books seem less realistic.[25] The novels frequently "[explore] the world of the rich and famous."[24]

Despite a reputation among critics for writing "fluff," Steel often delves into the less savory aspects of human nature, including incest, suicide, divorce, war, and even the Holocaust.[9] As time has progressed, Steel's writing has evolved. Her later heroines tend to be stronger and more authoritative, who, if they do not receive the level of respect and attention they desire from a man, move on to a new relationship.[7] In recent years Steel has also been willing to take more risks with her plots. Ransom focuses more on suspense than romance, and follows three sets of seemingly unconnected characters as their lives begin to intersect.[26] Toxic Bachelors departs from her usual style by telling the story through the eyes of the three title characters, men who discover their true loves.[24]

Steel has been criticized for making her books overly redundant and detailed,[27] explicitly telling the story to readers instead of showing it to them. This sometimes has the effect of making the readers feel like they are on the outside looking in rather than living the story.[28]

To avoid comparisons to her previous novels, Steel does not write sequels.[4] Although many of her earliest books were released with initial print runs of 1 million copies, by 2004 her publisher had decreased the number of books initially printed to 650,000.[29]

Twenty-two of her books have been adapted for television[30], including two that have received Golden Globe nominations. One is "Jewels," the story of the survival of a woman and her children in World War II Europe, and the family's eventual rebirth as one of the greatest jewelry houses in Europe.[9] In the late 1990s, Steel refused to sell the film rights to her novels to companies that intended to market them for television, preferring to work towards a film contract. Columbia Pictures was the first movie studio to offer for one of her novels, purchasing the rights to The Ghost in 1998.[30] Steel reversed course in 2005, reaching an agreement with New Line Home Entertainment to sell the film rights to 30 of her novels. New Line is expected to adapt the books as television movies or for the direct-to-video market.[31]

In 2002, Steel was decorated by the French government as a "Chevalier" of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, for her contributions to world culture.[9]

[edit] Bibliography

[edit] Novels

Year Title Notes
1973 Going Home
1977 Passion's Promise
1978 Now And Forever
1978 The Promise Based on the screenplay by Garry Michael White
1979 Golden Moments
1980 Season Of Passion
1980 Summer's End
1980 The Ring
1981 Palomino
1981 To Love Again
1981 Remembrance
1981 Loving
1982 Once In A Lifetime
1982 Crossings
1983 A Perfect Stranger
1983 Thurston House
1983 Changes
1984 Full Circle
1985 Family Album
1985 Secrets
1986 Wanderlust
1987 Fine Things
1987 Kaleidoscope
1988 Zoya
1989 Star
1989 Daddy
1990 Message From Nam
1991 Heartbeat
1991 No Greater Love
1992 Jewels
1992 Mixed Blessings
1993 Vanished
1994 Accident
1994 The Gift
1994 Wings
1995 Lightning
1995 Five Days In Paris
1996 Malice
1996 Silent Honor
1997 The Ranch
1997 Special Delivery
1997 The Ghost
1998 The Long Road Home
1998 The Klone and I
1998 His Bright Light
1998 Mirror Image
1999 Bittersweet
1999 Granny Dan
1999 Irresistible Forces
2000 The Wedding
2000 The House On Hope Street
2000 Journey
2001 Lone Eagle
2001 Leap Of Faith
2001 The Kiss
2002 The Cottage
2002 Sunset in St. Tropez
2002 Answered Prayers
2003 Dating Game
2003 Johnny Angel
2003 Safe Harbour
2004 Ransom
2004 Second Chance
2004 Echoes
2005 Impossible
2005 Miracle
2005 Toxic Bachelors
2006 The House
2006 Coming Out
2006 H.R.H.
2007 Sisters
2007 Amazing Grace
2008 Honour Thyself
2008 Bungalow Two
2008 Rogue

[edit] Non-fiction

  • Love:Poems (1984)
  • Having a Baby (1984)
  • His Bright Light

[edit] Children's books

[edit] Max & Martha series

  • Martha's New Daddy (1989)
  • Max and the Babysitter (1989)
  • Martha's Best Friend (1989)
  • Max's Daddy Goes to the Hospital (1989)
  • Max's New Baby (1989)
  • Martha's New School (1989)
  • Max Runs Away (1990)
  • Martha's New Puppy (1990)
  • Max and Grandma and Grampa Winky (1991)
  • Martha and Hilary and the Stranger (1991)

[edit] Freddie series

  • Freddie's Trip (1992)
  • Freddie's First Night Away (1992)
  • Freddie and the Doctor (1992)
  • Freddie's Accident (1992)

[edit] Filmography

  1. The Ring (1996)
  2. Full Circle (1996)
  3. Remembrance (1996)
  4. No Greater Love (1996)
  5. Mixed Blessings (1995)
  6. Zoya (1995)
  7. Vanished (1995)
  8. Family Album (1994)
  9. A Perfect Stranger (1994)
  10. Once in a Lifetime (1994)
  11. Message from Nam (1993)
  12. Star (1993) (TV)
  13. Heartbeat (1993)
  14. Jewels (1992)
  15. Secrets (1992)
  16. Daddy (1991)
  17. Palomino (1991)
  18. Changes (1991)
  19. Fine Things (1990)
  20. Kaleidoscope (1990)
  21. Crossings (1986)
  22. Now and Forever (1983)

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Angel, Karen (March 19, 2006). Lonely Heart. The New York Times. Retrieved on 2007-04-19.
  2. ^ a b c Danielle Steel. Books At Transworld. Retrieved on 2007-04-19.
  3. ^ Holfer, Robert (January 5, 2005). Danielle Steel (English). Variety. Retrieved on 2007-04-19.
  4. ^ a b c d e L., Rosanne (July 2004). Meet the Author: Danielle Steel. Reader's Club. Retrieved on 2007-04-19.
  5. ^ Alumni and Prof.'s on the Internet. Alumni Association of the Lycee Francais de New York, Inc.. Retrieved on 2007-04-19.
  6. ^ Meet the Writers: Danielle Steel. Barnes and Noble. Retrieved on 2007-04-19.
  7. ^ a b c d e Carroll, Jerry (October 22, 1995). Danielle Steel's Plot Thickens. San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved on 2007-04-19.
  8. ^ a b c d e f Kennedy, Dana (December 20, 1996). Steel Magnolia. Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved on 2007-04-19.
  9. ^ a b c d e f g h Segretto, Mike (2005). Meet the Writers: Danielle Steel. Barnes and Noble. Retrieved on 2007-04-19.
  10. ^ Haddock, Vicki (September 22, 1997). Siren Song of Drugs Beats Novelist's Son. San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved on 2007-04-19.
  11. ^ a b Donnally, Trish (September 23, 1997). Novelist Blames Depression in Son's Apparent Overdose. San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved on 2007-04-19.
  12. ^ a b Zinko, Carolyne (May 8, 2002). Steel's gala draws lots of star power (English). San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved on 2007-04-19.
  13. ^ Having a Baby (Hardcover). Amazon.Com. Retrieved on 2007-04-19.
  14. ^ a b c Danielle Steel. Book Reporter. Retrieved on 2007-04-19.
  15. ^ Williams, Lance (September 21, 1997). Novelist Danielle Steel's son dies. San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved on 2007-04-19.
  16. ^ Bigelow, Catherine (May 9, 2004). Swells. San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved on 2007-04-19.
  17. ^ About Us: Advisory Council: Danielle Steel. Center for the Advancement of Children's Mental Health. Retrieved on 2007-04-19.
  18. ^ Steger, Pat (August 11, 1999). Steel, Perkins Separate After 17-Month Marriage. San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved on 2007-04-19.
  19. ^ Donnally, Trish (February 26, 1998). A New Chapter in Steel Romance. San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved on 2007-04-19.
  20. ^ a b c Baker, Kenneth (September 30, 2003). Danielle Steel to open gallery for lesser-knowns. San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved on 2007-04-19.
  21. ^ Prance, Louise (October 19, 2006). Novelist targets fast-growing celebrity fragrance market. CosmeticsDesign.Com. Retrieved on 2007-04-19.
  22. ^ Carroll, Jerry (January 7, 1997). Danielle Steel Says Biography Wrecked Her Marriage. San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved on 2007-04-19.
  23. ^ Tour San Francisco: Pacific Heights. iNetours.com. Retrieved on 2008-01-10.
  24. ^ a b c Melnick, Sheri (2005). Toxic Bachelors. RomanticTimes Magazine. Retrieved on 2007-04-19.
  25. ^ Melnick, Sheri (2004). Safe Harbour. Romantic Times Magazine. Retrieved on 2007-04-19.
  26. ^ Melnick, Sheri (2004). Ransom. RomanticTimes Magazine. Retrieved on 2007-04-19.
  27. ^ Mbubaegbu, Chine (12 March 2007). Sisters by Danielle Steel. inthenews.co.uk. Retrieved on 2007-04-19.
  28. ^ Crutcher, Wendy. Lone Eagle. The Romance Reader. Retrieved on 2007-04-19.
  29. ^ Maryles, Daisy (July 12, 2004). Steel at 61. Publishers Weekly. Retrieved on 2007-04-19.
  30. ^ a b Fleming, Michael (February 3, 1998). Col helps Steel break into pic biz. Variety. Retrieved on 2007-04-19.
  31. ^ Steel sells film rights to 30 books. USAToday (November 11, 2005). Retrieved on 2007-04-19.

[edit] External links

Persondata
NAME Schuelein-Steel, Danielle Fernande Dominique
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Steel, Danielle
SHORT DESCRIPTION American Novelist
DATE OF BIRTH August 14, 1947
PLACE OF BIRTH San Francisco, California (U.S.)
DATE OF DEATH
PLACE OF DEATH