Nathaniel Benchley

Nathaniel Benchley (November 13, 1915 – December 14, 1981) was an American author.

Born in Newton, Massachusetts to a literary family, he was the son of Gertrude Darling and Robert Benchley (1889–1945), the noted American writer, humorist, critic, actor, and one of the founders of the Algonquin Round Table in New York City. He enlisted in the U.S. Navy prior to the attack on Pearl Harbor and served as a public relations officer and on convoy duty in the Atlantic on destroyers and patrol craft. He was transferred to the Pacific in 1945. He later worked for Newsweek magazine as an assistant drama editor.

While we primarily offer some of his children's books, he wrote quite a number of adult novels—some of which were turned into movies (like the Off-Islanders, adapted to The Russians are Coming! The Russians are Coming!). His sons were also involved in film, Nat an actor, and Peter the writer of the novel and screenplay Jaws.

Nathaniel Benchley died in 1981 in Boston, Massachusetts and was interred in the family plot at Prospect Hill Cemetery in Nantucket.