 james rufus agee ( ; november 27, 1909 â may 16, 1955) was an american author, journalist, poet, screenwriter and film critic. in the 1940s, he was one of the most influential film critics in the u.s. his autobiographical novel, a death in the family (1957), won the author a posthumous 1958 pulitzer prize. ==early life and education== agee was born in knoxville, tennessee, at highland avenue and 15th street, which was renamed james agee street in 1999, in what is now the fort sanders neighborhood to hugh james agee and laura whitman tyler. when agee was six, his father was killed in an automobile accident. from the age of seven, agee and his younger sister, emma, were educated in boarding schools. the most influential of these was located near his mother's summer cottage two miles from sewanee, tennessee. saint andrews school for mountain boys was run by [[episcopal church (united states)
1909_births 1955_deaths 20th-century_American_novelists 20th-century_American_poets American_film_critics American_screenwriters Glascock_Prize_winners Harvard_University_alumni People_from_Knoxville,_Tennessee Phillips_Exeter_Academy_alumni Poets_from_Tennessee Pulitzer_Prize_for_Fiction_winners Writers_from_Tennessee Yale_Younger_Poets_winners