Classic Authors: Scott O'Dell

Scott O'Dell's literary career began long before the publication of Island of the Blue Dolphins(1960), but it was not until then that he became a successful author. Previous to Island, he published novels, articles and non-fiction studies for adults, which made him only marginally notable. With Island, however, he reached a new audience and a new popularity. In the last three decades of his life, Scott O'Dell created classic after classic, winning him the admiration of both children and adults.

The beloved author was born on May 23, 1898, in Los Angeles, California. His parents, Bennett Mason and May Elizabeth (Gabriel) Scott, named their only son Odell Gabriel Scott. He grew up in and around Los Angeles, which he described as "a frontier town when I was born there. It had more horses than automobiles and more jackrabbits than people" (qtd. in Russell 2-3). He loved to explore the rugged area, and gained an early appreciation of nature and indigenous cultures. Young Odell attended local schools, including Long Beach Polytechnic High School in Long Beach, California. Although he did not particularly enjoy school, he loved to read. He especially enjoyed the work of Sir Walter Scott, who happened to be his great-grandmother's first cousin.

On October 9, 1918, Odell Scott was inducted into the United States Army, and sent to Occidental College in Los Angeles for officer's training. By Christmas, he had been discharged because of the armistice which had been issued in November of that year. He continued studying at the college, but never earned a degree. Despite other stints at University of Wisconsin, Stanford and even the University of Rome, he never earned a college degree. Finally, he abandoned any hope at graduating from college, and set about to do what he really wanted: write.

He began by publishing articles in a local newspaper; this is where an editor transposed his name into Scott O'Dell. The name suited him, and he soon had it legally changed. In the next few years, Scott worked in the film industry, performing various functions. He also published his first book, Representative Photoplays Analyzed(1924), which he wrote while working at Paramount Motion Picture Studio.

Scott O'Dell's first novel, Woman of Spain: A Story of Old California appeared in 1934. Greta Garbo persuaded MGM to buy the rights to the book, thus earning Scott a hefty profit, which he used to sustain himself during the Depression. During the 40s, he enlisted in the Air Force, but was discharged after less than a year of service. He spent the rest of the war in the Coast Guard Auxiliary, performing night patrol on the California Coast, sometimes with Humphrey Bogart. In 1947, he published Hill of the Hawk. From 1947 until 1955, he worked as a book editor for L.A. Daily News, and published several more books.

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