Key dates in the life and work of Ray Bradbury

The Associated Press, Wednesday, June 6, 2012, 10:57am (PDT)

Some key dates from the life and work of Ray Bradbury:

1920: Ray Douglas Bradbury is born Aug. 22 in Waukegan, Ill.

1934: Bradbury's family moves to Los Angeles.

1939: Bradbury publishes one of his first short stories, "Hollerbochen's Dilemma" in the fan magazine Imagination! He also launches a fan magazine of his own, Futuria Fantasia.

1947: Bradbury marries Marguerite McClure, with whom he later has four daughters. His first collection of short stories, "Dark Carnival," is published. One of the book's stories, "Homecoming," earns him an O. Henry Award for one of the best American short stories of the year.

1950: "The Martian Chronicles" is published, a breakout success that established Bradbury in literature and continues to be one of his most highly regarded works. In intertwined stories about Earth colonizers destroying an idyllic Martian civilization, Bradbury explored issues of post-World War II America.

1951: Bradbury releases "The Illustrated Man," a collection of 18 loosely connected short stories.

1953: "Fahrenheit 451," Bradbury's most famous work, is published. Inspired by the Cold War, the rise of television and the author's passion for libraries, the dystopian novel was an apocalyptic narrative of nuclear war abroad and empty pleasure at home, with firefighters assigned to burn books instead of putting blazes out.

1954: The National Institute of Arts and Letters honors Bradbury for his contributions to American literature.

1956: With John Huston, Bradbury co-writes the screenplay to the film "Moby Dick," an adaption of Herman Melville's novel.

1957: Bradbury releases the autobiographical novel "Dandelion Wine," a loosely connected series of short stories about childhood in the Midwest. He fashioned the fictional Green Town after his Illinois hometown.

1962: Bradbury's novel "Something Wicked This Way Comes" is published, a darker companion piece to "Dandelion Wine." Also set in Green Town, it's a story of two 13-year-old boys who become enmeshed with a sinister traveling carnival.

1963: An animated short film based on a Bradbury story, "Icarus Montgolfier Wright," is nominated for an Academy Award.

1964: Bradbury serves as creative consultant on the United States Pavilion at the 1964 World's Fair in New York.

1969: Bradbury's "The Illustrated Man" is adapted into a movie by Jack Smight, starring Rod Steiger.

1971: The Dandelion Crater is named on the moon by the astronauts of the Apollo 15 in honor of Bradbury's "Dandelion Wine."

1980: Bradbury's "The Martian Chronicles" is adapted into an NBC miniseries starring Rock Hudson.

1983: Bradbury's "Something Wicked This Way Comes" is adapted into a film starring Jason Robards and Jonathan Pryce.

1985: The sci-fi series "The Ray Bradbury Theater," which Bradbury hosted, begins its six seasons on broadcast on HBO, later to be aired on the USA Network.

1992: The Ray Bradbury Award is launched by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America to honor screenwriting, with the first recipient being James Cameron for "Terminator 2."

1994: Bradbury wins an Emmy Award for the screenplay to "The Halloween Tree," an animated TV movie produced by Hanna-Barbera based on Bradbury's 1972 novel of the same name.

2004: President George W. Bush presents Bradbury with the National Medal of Arts.

2007: The Pulitzer Prize board gives a special citation to Bradbury for "his distinguished, prolific and deeply influential career as an unmatched author of science fiction and fantasy."

2005: Michael Moore releases the documentary "Fahrenheit 9/11," the title of which alluded to Bradbury's "Fahrenheit 451."

2011: Bradbury grants permission for "Fahrenheit 451" to be released in digital form with the promise from Simon & Schuster that the e-book be made available to libraries, a first at the time for an e-book from the publisher.