George Barr McCutcheon

George Barr McCutcheon was born on July 26, 1866, in Tippecanoe County, Indiana. After studying at Purdue University, he worked as a journalist and editor for newspapers in Lafayette and Chicago. His breakthrough came with the 1902 novel "Brewster's Millions," a comedic tale of a man who must spend a fortune to inherit a larger one. The book became a bestseller and was adapted into numerous stage and film versions, including a 1985 movie starring Richard Pryor. McCutcheon wrote over 40 novels, including the popular "Graustark" series of romantic adventures set in a fictional European kingdom. His work, while often dismissed by critics as lightweight, was enormously popular with readers and helped define the genre of early 20th-century American popular fiction. He died on October 23, 1928, in New York City.