Maurice Bernard Sendak was an American illustrator and writer of children's books. He became widely known for his book Where the Wild Things Are, first published in 1963.
Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Children's Animated Program, Locus Award for Best Art Book, Goodreads Choice Awards Best Picture Books, National Book Award for Children's Books (Paperback)
Movies
, Where the Wild Things Are, Little Bear, more
TV Shows
Seven Little Monsters, Little Bear
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Trademark
1
His works frequently depict a child entering an imaginative or dream related world or setting.
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Quote
1
When I was a child, and I was shopping with my mother and she was holding my hand because I was a very little boy, and I passed the newsstand, and I saw a picture of a the Lindbergh baby dead in the woods... and I took my mother to see it. And apparently nobody but me saw it... It's only in the past few years that I realized Colonel Lindbergh was so enraged that that picture was used and it was taken off the afternoon edition; I saw the morning edition. I spent my whole life believing I saw that picture. But that to me is why children are so important: they see things.
2
The town that my mother lived in and was born in... the town was burnt to the ground by the Germans, and my grandmother and her children got out and came to America. Tiresome, deadly people. I mean, yes, we're so happy for those who survived, but some of them were just like regular people. You hated them. When I finally got to envision what the Wild Things looked like, that's what they looked like: those greedy uncles and aunts who came to eat my food.
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I want to kill everybody in publishing; I want to see them all laid out.
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If Ursula Nordstrom hadn't pursued everybody on the board of the Caldecott Newberry Committee, I'd never have won. I was the bad boy; I was always into bad-boy books.
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I remember my own childhood vividly - I knew terrible things. But I knew I mustn't let adults know I knew. It would scare them.
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I refuse to lie to children. I refuse to cater to the bullshit of innocence.
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[from an interview in 2011] I have nothing now but praise for my life. I'm not unhappy. I cry a lot because I miss people. They die and I can't stop them. They leave me and I love them more. There are so many beautiful things in the world which I will have to leave when I die, but I'm ready, I'm ready, I'm ready.
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[Interview by Stephen Colbert on The Colbert Report (2005), 1/25/2012] Newt Gingrich is an idiot of great renown. There is something so hopelessly gross and vile about him, that it's hard to take him seriously.
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All I wanted was to be straight so my parents could be happy. They never, never, never knew. [In a 2008 New York Times interview, talking about never telling his parents he was gay.].
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I think Disney is terrible for young children.
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There must be more to life than having everything.
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Fact
1
Sendak and companion Dr. Eugene Glynn lived together for 50 years before Glynn's May 2007 death from lung cancer.
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His studio was a large barn in Connecticut.
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His most famous book, "Where the Wild Things Are," was originally going to be titled "Where the Wild Horses Are." He gave that up when he discovered that he couldn't draw horses.
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Several of the Wild Things were actually caricatures of relatives who used to visit his parents' home when he was a child.
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His book "Chicken Soup with Rice" was set to music by and sung by Carole King as part of Really Rosie (1975).
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He was awarded the American National Medal of the Arts in 1996 by the National Endowment of the Arts in Washington, DC.
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Was a writer and illustrator of children's literature.
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Won the Caldecott Medal in 1964 for the book "Where the Wild Things Are.".
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Was awarded an honorary doctorate from the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, at the 1998 commencement ceremonies for his services to children's literature.
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Was close friends with playwright Tony Kushner. They collaborated on the book "Brundibar," and he made a cameo in the HBO version of Kushner's Angels in America (2003).
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Co-founder of the Night Kitchen Theater and the developer of plays, musicals, and films based on his books.
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Worked also as a designer for ballet and opera.
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The Educational Paperback Association listed him in its Top-100 Children's Authors.
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Produced more than a dozen books of his own and illustrated more than seventy stories by other authors.
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Said he set his goal to become a writer and an illustrator when he was four or five years old.
Writer
Title
Year
Status
Character
Higglety Pigglety Pop! or There Must Be More to Life
2010
Video short book "Higglety Pigglety Pop! or There Must Be More to Life"
Where the Wild Things Are
2009
book
Little Bear
1995-2003
TV Series creator - 22 episodes
Seven Little Monsters
2000-2003
TV Series based on the book by - 49 episodes
The Little Bear Movie
2001
characters
In the Night Kitchen
1987
Short from the book by
Nutcracker
1986
conceived by
Higglety Pigglety Pop!
1985
TV Movie libretto
Where the Wild Things Are
1984
TV Movie libretto
Simple Gifts
1977
TV Movie segment "Prologue"
Chicken Soup with Rice
1975
Video short story by
Really Rosie
1975
TV Movie story
Where the Wild Things Are
1973
Short book
Producer
Title
Year
Status
Character
Higglety Pigglety Pop! or There Must Be More to Life
2010
Video short executive producer
Where the Wild Things Are
2009
producer
The Little Bear Movie
2001
executive producer
Seven Little Monsters
2000
TV Series executive producer
George and Martha
1999-2000
TV Series executive producer - 26 episodes
Little Bear
1995
TV Series executive producer
Production Designer
Title
Year
Status
Character
Hansel und Gretel
1999
TV Movie
Nutcracker
1986
Higglety Pigglety Pop!
1985
TV Movie designer
Where the Wild Things Are
1984
TV Movie designer
Live from Lincoln Center
1983
TV Series 1 episode
The Love for Three Oranges
1982
TV Movie
Costume Designer
Title
Year
Status
Character
Last Dance
2002
Documentary
Hansel und Gretel
1999
TV Movie
Nutcracker
1986
Live from Lincoln Center
1983
TV Series 1 episode
Actor
Title
Year
Status
Character
Angels in America
2003
TV Mini-Series
Rabbi on Bench #2
Chicken Soup with Rice
1975
Video short
Jenny's Bark (voice)
Really Rosie
1975
TV Movie
Jenny's Bark (voice)
Art Department
Title
Year
Status
Character
Last Dance
2002
Documentary set designer
Jackanory
1971
TV Series illustrator - 2 episodes
Miscellaneous
Title
Year
Status
Character
Northern Exposure
1991
TV Series "Where the Wild Things Are" copyright 1963 by - 1 episode
Return to Oz
1985
preliminary artwork - uncredited
Zlateh the Goat
1966
Short consultant
Director
Title
Year
Status
Character
Chicken Soup with Rice
1975
Video short
Really Rosie
1975
TV Movie
Art Director
Title
Year
Status
Character
Hansel and Gretel
1998
TV Movie
Really Rosie
1975
TV Movie
Soundtrack
Title
Year
Status
Character
The Dresden Dolls: In Paradise
2005
Video writer: "Pierre"
Seasons of the Heart
1994
TV Movie as Maurice Zendak, "Where the Wild Things Are"
Music Department
Title
Year
Status
Character
Chicken Soup with Rice
1975
Video short lyrics by
Thanks
Title
Year
Status
Character
Her
2013
dedicatee
Tell Them Anything You Want: A Portrait of Maurice Sendak
2009
TV Short documentary very special thanks
Labyrinth
1986
acknowledgment
Lois Gibbs and the Love Canal
1982
TV Movie special thanks
Self
Title
Year
Status
Character
Far Out Isn't Far Enough: The Tomi Ungerer Story
2012
Documentary
Himself
The Colbert Report
2012
TV Series
Himself
HBO First Look
2009
TV Series documentary
Himself
Tell Them Anything You Want: A Portrait of Maurice Sendak