Background
His father was a rich diamond merchant who, when Eric was two years old, was killed during the Boer War. His mother then moved to Saint St. Petersburg, Russia, to work as a governess for the imperial family.
His father was a rich diamond merchant who, when Eric was two years old, was killed during the Boer War. His mother then moved to Saint St. Petersburg, Russia, to work as a governess for the imperial family.
Educated Bewerly School, England. Art education, Boston Museum of Fine Arts and New York Academy Design.
He took American citizenship in 1942 shortly before his death. She later settled in America. Knight had a varied career, including service in the Canadian Army during World War I, and stints as an art student, newspaper reporter and Hollywood screenwriter.
Knight"s first novel was Invitation to Life (Greenberg, 1934).
The second was Song on Your Bugles (1936) about the working class in Northern England. As "Richard Hallas", he wrote the hardboiled genre novel You Play The Black and The Red Comes Up (1938).
Knight"s This Above All is considered one of the significant novels of the Second World War. He also helped co-author the film, Battle of Britain in the "Why We Fight" Series under the direction of Frank Capra.
They resided at Springhouse Farm from 1939 to 1943.
His novel Lassie Come-Home () appeared in 1940, expanded from a short story published in 1938 in The Saturday Evening Post. The novel was filmed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in 1943 as Lassie Come Home with Roddy McDowall in the role of Joe Carraclough and canine actor Pal in the role of Lassie. The success of the novel and film generated more films and eventually several television series, cementing Lassie"s icon status.
The novel remains a favorite, in many reprints.
One of Knight"s last books was Sam Small Flies Again, republished as The Flying Yorkshireman (Pocket Books 493, 1948. 273 pages). On the back of The Flying Yorkshireman, this blurb appeared:
In 1943, at which time he was a major in the United States Army – Special Services, Knight was killed in an air crash in Dutch Guiana (now Suriname) in South America.
Served with Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry, World War I.
Married second, Jere Knight, December 2, 1932. Children (by 1st marriage): Betty, Winifred (Mistress Charlton Mewborn, III), Jennie (Mistress Frank Moore).