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National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution; gift of Jere (Mrs. Eric) Knight
Restrictions & Rights
Usage conditions apply
Object number
NPG.89.226
Exhibition Label
Born West Yorkshire, England
Writer Eric Knight was raised in England and worked in factories there before immigrating to Philadelphia in 1912. After serving in World War I, he worked as a journalist and theater critic until selling his first short story in 1930. Knight eventually returned to his Yorkshire roots in his writing, including the critically successful book The Happy Land, about a mining family. But he is best known for creating the fictional collie Lassie in Lassie Come-Home (1940), adapted from his short story in the Saturday Evening Post. Lassie was phenomenally successful, spawning a series of books; movies, beginning in 1943 with Lassie Come Home, starring Elizabeth Taylor and Roddy McDowall; and a long-running television series that first aired in 1954. Knight commissioned his good friend Peter Hurd to create this portrait.
Nacido en West Yorkshire, Inglaterra
El escritor Eric Knight creció en Inglaterra y fue obrero de fábricas antes de emigrar a Philadelphia en 1912. Luego de servir en la Primera Guerra Mundial, laboró como periodista y crítico teatral hasta que en 1930 logró vender su primer cuento. Con el tiempo Knight volvería a sus raíces de Yorkshire en libros como The Happy Land, la historia de una familia minera que recibió excelentes críticas. Sin embargo, su mayor fama se debe a Lassie, un collie ficticio que protagonizó su novela Lassie Come-Home (1940), basada en un cuento que había publicado en la revista Saturday Evening Post. Lassie tuvo un éxito fenomenal y generó una serie de libros. También se hicieron películas, la primera titulada Lassie Come Home (1943), con Elizabeth Taylor y Roddy McDowall, y en 1954 comenzó una serie televisiva que gozaría de larga vida. Knight encargó este retrato a su buen amigo Peter Hurd.
Provenance
The sitter; his widow Jere Knight [Mrs. Eric Knight]; gift 1989 to NPG
