Raymond Abrashkin was an American writer best known for writing, co-producing, and co-directing the acclaimed movie, The Little Fugitive, and for co-creating and co-authoring the highly successful Danny Dunn

Danny Dunn

Danny Dunn is the name of a fictional character and protagonist of a series of juvenile science fiction/adventure books written by Raymond Abrashkin and Jay Williams, in the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s...

series of science fiction books for children with Jay Williams

Jay Williams (author)

Jay Williams was an American author born in Buffalo, New York, the son of Max and Lillian Jacobson. He cited the experience of growing up as the son of a vaudeville show producer as leading him to pursue his acting career as early as college...

.

Family

Raymond's parents were Harry Abrashkin, born in what is now Dnipropetrovsk

Dnipropetrovsk

Dnipropetrovsk or Dnepropetrovsk formerly Yekaterinoslav is Ukraine's third largest city with one million inhabitants. It is located southeast of Ukraine's capital Kiev on the Dnieper River, in the south-central region of the country...

, Ukraine

Ukraine

Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...

, and Bertha Kornfeld, born in England. Raymond was born in Brooklyn, New York.

He graduated from the City College of New York

City College of New York

The City College of the City University of New York is a senior college of the City University of New York , in New York City. It is also the oldest of the City University's twenty-three institutions of higher learning...

 and taught in New York City

New York City

New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

 public schools. His writing career began as the education editor of PM Newspaper. He became the principal writer for Young People's Records. He wrote the syndicated comic strip Timmy, drawn by Howard Sparber.

Around 1935, he married Evelyn Kurinski. They had two children, John Michael (West) Abrashkin, an artist (1941–1992), and William Henry (Hank) Abrashkin, a Trial Court Judge in Massachusetts (b. 1944). There are two grandchildren, Karen Anna Abrashkin (b. 1981) and John Raymond Abrashkin (b. 1983).

During World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

 Abrashkin served in the United States Maritime Service on supply ships in the Atlantic. During and after the war, he lived in Greenwich Village

Greenwich Village

Greenwich Village, , , , .in New York often simply called "the Village", is a largely residential neighborhood on the west side of Lower Manhattan in New York City. A large majority of the district is home to upper middle class families...

, New York. In 1951 he and his family moved to a converted barn in Weston, Connecticut

Weston, Connecticut

Weston is a town in Fairfield County, Connecticut. The population was 10,179 at the 2010 census. The town is served by Route 57 and Route 53, both of which run through the town center. About 19% of the town's workforce commutes to New York City, about to the southwest.Like many towns in...

, where he lived for the remainder of his life.

Little Fugitive

In 1952 Abrashkin wrote the screenplay for Little Fugitive

Little Fugitive

Little Fugitive is a 1953 film written and directed by Raymond Abrashkin , Morris Engel and Ruth Orkin, that tells the story of a child alone at Coney Island....

under the name "Ray Ashley", which he co-produced and co-directed with Morris Engel and Ruth Orkin. The movie, which came out in 1953, was nominated for an Academy Award

Academy Awards

An Academy Award, also known as an Oscar, is an accolade bestowed by the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize excellence of professionals in the film industry, including directors, actors, and writers...

, and won acclaim and praise from François Truffaut

François Truffaut

François Roland Truffaut was an influential film critic and filmmaker and one of the founders of the French New Wave. In a film career lasting over a quarter of a century, he remains an icon of the French film industry. He was also a screenwriter, producer, and actor working on over twenty-five...

 as setting the stage for the French New Wave

French New Wave

The New Wave was a blanket term coined by critics for a group of French filmmakers of the late 1950s and 1960s, influenced by Italian Neorealism and classical Hollywood cinema. Although never a formally organized movement, the New Wave filmmakers were linked by their self-conscious rejection of...

 movement.

While working on the movie at Coney Island

Coney Island

Coney Island is a peninsula and beach on the Atlantic Ocean in southern Brooklyn, New York, United States. The site was formerly an outer barrier island, but became partially connected to the mainland by landfill....

, Abrashkin was stricken with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis

Motor neurone disease

The motor neurone diseases are a group of neurological disorders that selectively affect motor neurones, the cells that control voluntary muscle activity including speaking, walking, breathing, swallowing and general movement of the body. They are generally progressive in nature, and can cause...

, (ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig's Disease), from which he died, aged 49.