Sally Belfrage

Sally Belfrage

Sally Belfrage (October 4, 1936 – March 14, 1994) was a United States-born British-based 20th century non-fiction writer and international journalist.[1][2] Her writing covered turmoils in Northern Ireland, the American Civil Rights Movement and her own memoirs about her life.[1] According to her obituary in The New York Times, she was 'an intelligent and humorous journalist and critic who ardently searched for the truth'.[3]

Life

Sally Mary Caroline Belfrage was born in Hollywood, California, on 4 October 1936.[2] Her parents, Cedric Belfrage and Molly Castle, later moved to New York where Sally studied at the Bronx High School of Science and Hunter College,[2] before her parents were deported to London as alleged Communists.[1][2] After her return to England, Sally Belfrage matriculated at the London School of Economics,[1][2] and after graduation she attended 6th World Festival of Youth and Students in Moscow, went to Communist China[4] and worked for the Foreign Languages Publishing House, Moscow, in 1957.[2]

Belfrage became a social activist and world traveller.[1] Her books include The Crack: A Belfast Year (1987, retitled Living with War: A Belfast Year for United States distribution),[5] Un-American Activities: A Memoir of the Fifties (1995),[6] Freedom Summer (1999),[7] A Room in Moscow (1958),[8] and Flowers of Emptiness: Reflections on an Ashram.[3] In 1969, Belfrage signed a war tax resistance vow, along with 447 other American writers and editors. It was published in the January 30, 1969 edition of the New York Post.[1]

Death

Sally Belfrage lived most of her life in London, where she died at Middlesex Hospital from lung cancer (adenocarcinoma) in 1994 at age 57.[2][9]

Marriage and family

In 1965, she married Bernard Pomerance who was best known for his play, The Elephant Man.[10] They had two children: Eve Pomerance, a casting director, screenwriter and producer in Hollywood, and Moby Pomerance, a playwright and screenwriter.[1][11][12]

Belfrage's brother was Nicolas Belfrage, the Master in wine and wine critic.[13] Her father's brother was Bruce Belfrage, the BBC Newsreader during World War II, and her great uncle was Bryan Powley, the actor.[14]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g "Obituary: Sally Belfrage". The Independent. 16 March 1994. Retrieved 21 June 2019.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g Pace, Eric (15 March 1994). "Sally Belfrage Dies; Writer Specializing In Memoirs Was 57". The New York Times. Retrieved 22 June 2019.
  3. ^ a b Belfrage, Sally (22 June 1982). Flowers of emptiness. Women's Press. OCLC 320788280.
  4. ^ "AMERICANS ABROAD: The Mis-Guided Tour". TIME. 26 August 1957. Retrieved 22 June 2021.
  5. ^ Belfrage, Sally (22 June 1987). Living in war: a Belfast year. Viking. OCLC 84590094.
  6. ^ Belfrage, Sally (22 June 1995). Un-American activities: a memoir of the fifties. HarperPerennial. ISBN 9780060926267. Retrieved 22 June 2019 – via Open WorldCat.
  7. ^ Belfrage, Sally (22 June 1999). Freedom summer. University Press of Virginia. OCLC 861041871.
  8. ^ Belfrage, Sally (22 June 1966). A room in Moscow. Mayflower-Dell Paperback. OCLC 47783831.
  9. ^ Guide to the Sally Belfrage papers Archived 2006-09-05 at the Wayback Machine
  10. ^ "Sally Belfrage, American-born Journalist, Dies at 57". AP NEWS. Retrieved 22 June 2019.
  11. ^ "Resume - eve pomerance casting". evepomerancecasting. Archived from the original on 22 June 2019. Retrieved 22 June 2019.
  12. ^ "An Interview with Moby Pomerance". 19 July 2010. Retrieved 22 June 2019.
  13. ^ "Statement from Nicolas Belfrage" (PDF). BBC.
  14. ^ "Ancestry® - Genealogy, Family Trees & Family History Records". www.ancestry.co.uk. Retrieved 22 June 2019.