Rod McKuen, the prolific poet whose work spoke to millions of people during the 60s and 70s, died on Thursday, January 29th in Beverly Hills. The cause of death was reported to be pneumonia.
Born Rodney Marvin McKuen in Oakland, California, McKuen left home at an early age after being subjected to severe beatings by his step father. After working his way around the west working at odd jobs, he eventually settled in San Francisco.
While in San Francisco, McKuen began writing poetry. During readings he often found himself among the most notable artists of the beat generation such as Jack Kerouac and Allen Ginsberg. He resided in Paris for a short time, eventually returning to California. Over his career Rod McKuen went on to produce an astonishing portfolio of work including songs, poems, lyrics, and movie scores.
For a generation of Americans at midcentury and afterward, Mr. McKuen’s poetry formed an enduring, solidly constructed bridge between the Beat generation and New Age sensibilities. Ranging over themes of love and loss, the natural world and spirituality, his work was prized by readers for its gentle accessibility while being condemned by many critics as facile, tepid and aphoristic.
Mr. McKuen’s output was as varied as it was vast, spanning song lyrics, including English-language adaptations (“Seasons in the Sun”) of works by his idol, Jacques Brel; music and lyrics, as for “Jean,” from the 1969 film “The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie,” for which he received an Academy Award nomination; and musical scores, including that of the 1973 television film “Lisa, Bright and Dark.” He also appeared as a singer on television, on many recordings and in live performance.
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