D. Herrick/FilmMagic(NEW YORK) — Philip Roth, the prolific author known for dark humored novels like Goodbye Columbus and Portnoy’s Complaint, died Tuesday in a New York City hospital of congestive heart failure, a close friend tells CNN. He was 85.
The Newark, New Jersey-born writer — whose more than 25 books mainly centered on the Jewish experience, the betrayal of American ideals, personal identity and the frailty of the human body — won nearly every literary honor, including two National Book Awards, a Pulitzer Prize for his 1997 novel American Pastoral, and three PEN/Faulkner Awards.
Eight of Roth’s novels were made into films, including Goodbye Columbus, starring Richard Benjamin and Ali McGraw; Portnoy’s Complaint; The Human Stain, with Anthony Hopkins and Nicole Kidman; The Humbling, featuring Al Pacino and Greta Gerwig; and American Pastoral, directed by and starring Ewan McGregor.
He retired from writing fiction in 2012, focusing thereafter on essays and criticism.
Roth was married twice: first to Margaret Martinson Williams from 1959 to 1963, then to stage actress Claire Bloom from 1990 to 1995.
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