Biography
Jean Shepherd (1921–1999) was an American writer, radio personality and actor. Born on the South Side of Chicago, he was raised in Hammond, Indiana, and served in the US Army Signal Corps during the Second World War. He began a long radio career in the 1940s and 1950s, broadcasting humorous monologues and stories, many drawn from his Midwest childhood.
Shepherd’s semi-autobiographical tales formed the basis for the 1983 film A Christmas Story, for which he wrote the screenplay with Leigh Brown and Bob Clark, and provided the voice of the adult Ralphie. The film was adapted from his 1966 novel In God We Trust: All Others Pay Cash. He also wrote and narrated other television adaptations of his stories, including The Phantom of the Open Hearth (1976) and Ollie Hopnoodle's Haven of Bliss (1988).
