Harper Lee: Her Life in Pictures

A look back at the iconic author's life
By Cristina Everett
Updated February 19, 2016 at 08:32 PM EST

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The Life of Harper Lee

Credit: Robert Sutton/The Tuscaloosa News/AP; Everett Collection

Harper Lee, the American author who penned the timeless classic To Kill a Mockingbird, died Feb. 18, 2016 in her hometown Monroeville, Alabama. In honor of the late author, take a look back of how her work changed the literary and cinematic worlds.

 

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March 14, 1963

Credit: AP

Harper Lee considered getting into the family business but quit law school one semester shy of graduating to make herself a writer. In 1949, she moved to New York and spent almost a decade crafting short stories no editor found publishable. But then her agent suggested that she expand one story into a novel, and To Kill a Mockingbird appeared in July 1960. In its first year out, the book sold 500,000 copies and won the Pulitzer.

 

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1962

Credit: Everett Collection

The 1962 film version of To Kill a Mockingbird was nominated for eight Oscars and won three, including a Best Actor trophy for Gregory Peck. The actor (left) is pictured greeting Lee (right) upon her arrival in Los Angeles in connection with the special opening of the film.

 

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1962

Credit: Everett Collection

Mary Badham, who played Scout in the film adaptation of To Kill a Mockingbird with author Lee on set.

 

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Jan. 23, 2004

Credit: Robert Sutton/The Tuscaloosa News/AP

As years passed and no new book appeared, gossip filled the void: Lee was crafting her memoirs. She was working a nonfiction story about a murderous Alabama preacher. Soon she began swearing that she’d changed her mind: She’d never publish another book.

 

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May 19, 2005

Credit: Christine Cotter/AP

Lee poses with actress Annette Benning at a dinner held by the Richard Riordan Central Library in Los Angeles.

 

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May 19, 2005

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Lee (r.) receives her award at the Library Foundation of Los Angeles 2005 Awards Dinner at the City National Plaza.

 

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2006

Credit: Matt Cashore/AP

University of Notre Dame President Rev. John Jenkins (l.), author Harper Lee (c.), and Notre Dame board of trustees president Patrick McCartan look out at the graduates of the class of 2006 as they hold up copies of Lee's book To Kill a Mockingbird during commencent ceremonies in South Bend, Ind. Notre Dame had awarded Lee an honorary degree.

 

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March 13, 2006

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Playwright Horton Foote, writer Harper Lee and actor Robert Duvall attend Signature Theatre Company to honor Foote on the eve of his 90th birthday at the Ritz Carlton in New York City.

 

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Aug. 20, 2007

Credit: Rob Carr/AP

Lee smiles during a ceremony honoring the four new members of the Alabama Academy of Honor at the state Capitol in Montgomery, Alabama.

 

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November 5, 2007

Credit: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

Lee smiles before receiving the 2007 Presidential Medal of Freedom in the East Room of the White House in Washington, D.C.

 

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November 5, 2007

Credit: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

U.S. President George W. Bush hangs a Presidential Medal of Freedom on the neck of Harper Lee.

 

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October 19, 2009

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Lee and Governor Bob Riley attend the 2009 Alabama Academy of Honor Inductions at the Old House Chambers in Montgomery, Alabama.

 

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May 19, 2010

Credit: Penny Weaver/AP

Lee pictured in her assisted living room in Montoeville, Alabama.

“The world knows Harper Lee was a brilliant writer but what many don’t know is that she was an extraordinary woman of great joyfulness, humility and kindness,” Michael Morrison, President and Publisher of HarperCollins US General Books Group and Canada said in a statement following news of her death. “She lived her life the way she wanted to – in private – surrounded by books and the people who loved her. I will always cherish the time I spent with her.”

 

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