Ernest Hemingway was the author of 27 incredible and memorable books, as well as more than 50 short stories. He was also a Pulitzer and Nobel Prize winner, Bronze Star recipient, world-class sports fisherman, large game hunter, boxer, bullfighting fanatic, and war correspondent. Ernest Hemingway had an infamous reputation that loomed enormously during the 20th century — yet most people don’t know the half of it. This hard-drinking, fast-living wordsmith had a life that most people only dream about, and it all culminated in his infamously sad death. Here are 73 unbelievable and incredible facts about the life and death of Ernest Hemingway.

Ernest Hemingway: Early Life, Childhood & Education

1. When and where was Ernest Hemingway born?

Ernest Hemingway was born in Oak Park, Illinois on July 21, 1899.

2. Ernest Hemingway was named after his grandfather

When Clarence and Grace Hemingway had their second child and first son on the 21st of July in 1899, they were residing with Grace’s father, Ernest Miller Hall in Oak Park, Illinois. They decided to name their first son Ernest Hemingway after him as a way to show their appreciation to him.

3. Ernest Hemingway’s mother dressed him in girls’ clothes

Grace followed the Victorian practice of not gender-segregating children’s clothing. Not just with Ernest Hemingway, but also with her other six children: Marcelline, her firstborn child, who was born in 1898, Ursula who was born in 1902, Madelaine in 1904, Carol in 1911, and Leicester in 1915.

4. Ernest Hemingway and his sister Marcelline were raised as twins

With only a year separating the two, Ernest Hemingway and Marcelline resembled one another strongly. Grace wanted them to appear as twins, so in Ernest’s first three years she kept his hair long and referred to him as ‘Ernestine’, which continued for years. In fact, Marcelline was even held back in school so she and Hemingway could be in the same class.

5. Grace Hemingway forced Ernest to learn the cello

Despite his unwillingness to learn, Hemingway’s mother, a well-known musician in the village, taught him to play the cello. Later in life, Ernest Hemingway confessed that the music lessons influenced his writing style, as indicated by the contrapuntal structure of For Whom the Bell Tolls.

6. Ernest Hemingway hated his mother

And Ernest Hemingway was very vocal about this genuine despise as well. One of Hemingway’s friends, Major General Charles Lanham, admitted that Hemingway “was the only man he ever knew who really hated his mother.”

7. Leicester Hemingway founded a micronation

Leicester Hemingway — Ernest Hemingway’s brother — formed The Republic of New Atlantis, a micronation with its own currency, postage, and constitution, off the coast of Jamaica. Unfortunately, this country only survived two years before being devastated by a tropical hurricane.

8. Ernest Hemingway never went to college but did a lot in his high school years

While Ernest Hemingway never had a college education, he was quite the overachiever in high school. From 1913 to 1917, Ernest Hemingway attended Oak Park and River Forest High School. He participated in a variety of sports throughout those years, including boxing, track and field, water polo, and football, as well as performing in the school orchestra for two years alongside his sister Marcelline and receiving high scores in English classes. Ernest Hemingway was also the editor of the school’s newspaper and yearbook, the Trapeze and Tabula.

Ernest Hemingway: Life & Times

9. Ernest Hemingway became a journalist after high school

Before becoming a novelist, Ernest Hemingway worked as a journalist. He went to work as a cub reporter for The Kansas City Star after graduating from high school and despite staying there for only six months, he relied on the newspaper’s style guide as a foundation for his writing later: Use short sentences. Use short first paragraphs. Use vigorous English. Be positive, not negative.

10. Ernest Hemingway was rejected from the U.S Army for poor eyesight

However, Ernest Hemingway signed on to be an ambulance driver in Italy during the Red Cross recruitment, and in May 1918, he sailed from New York to Paris, when the city was under attack from the German artillery.

11. Ernest Hemingway was awarded the Italian Silver Medal of Military Valor

When Ernest Hemingway was only 18, he was seriously injured by mortar fire when he was returning from the canteen to bring chocolate and cigarettes to the front line. Despite his injuries, he was determined to assist Italian soldiers and guide them to safety. He was given the Silver Medal of Military Valor and later spoke the iconic words regarding this incident: “When you go to war as a boy you have a great illusion of immortality. Other people get killed; not you … Then when you are badly wounded the first time you lose that illusion, and you know it can happen to you.”

12. Ernest Hemingway thought he was going to lose his leg

Ernest Hemingway had to be hospitalized due to the seriousness of his injuries. During his hospital stay, given the fact that his doctors couldn’t speak English, he was incapable of understanding whether his leg was coming off or not. This incident would leave an emotional scar as well as a physical one each time that Hemingway laid sight on his bloody knee.

13. Ernest Hemingway fell in love with his nurse, who gave him his first heartbreak

While he was in the hospital, Ernest Hemingway fell in love with Agnes von Kurowsky, his nurse who was seven years older than him. Hemingway was well enough to return to the United States and planned for Agnes to join him in only a few months. After waiting for news of Agnes, he received a letter from her in which she admitted to meeting an Italian officer while he was away and that she was now his fiancée.

14. A year after his first heartbreak, Ernest Hemingway met his first wife

In 1920, Ernest Hemingway met and fell in love with Hadley Richardson while living in Chicago. he subsequently stated: “I knew she was the girl I was going to marry”. Hadley was eight years older than Hemingway, yet she appeared to be less mature than a woman of her age should be. After a few months of correspondence, in 1921, the couple married and relocated to Paris.

15. Ernest Hemingway had a strong — and complicated — relationship with Gertrude Stein

Ernest Hemingway met Gertrude Stein, the American writer and art collector, in Paris and became a regular at her salon. There, he met famous painters like Pablo Picasso, and Stein became Hemingway’s mentor and, later, his son Jack’s godmother. She introduced him to the Montparnasse Quarter’s expatriate artists and writers, whom she dubbed the “Lost Generation.” However, their relationship degenerated into a decades-long literary feud that didn’t conclude until 1944.

16. Ernest Hemingway was a member of the Lost Generation

The so-called Lost Generation included members who rejected more traditional ideas of right behavior, morality, and gender roles after witnessing what they deemed meaningless killing on such a vast scale during the war. The Lost Generation included many prominent names such as the Irish novelist James Joyce, the writer F. Scott Fitzgerald, and the American poet Ezra Pound.

17. Ernest Hemingway was James Joyce’s protector

While Ernest Hemingway was living in Paris in the 1920s, he and James Joyce were drinking buddies. Whenever a fight was started when they were together, Joyce, who had bad eyesight, relied on Hemingway to defend him. Hemingway described this dynamic in an interview saying: “We’d go out, and Joyce would fall into an argument or a fight. He couldn’t even see the man, so he’d say, ‘Deal with him, Hemingway! Deal with him!'”

18. Ernest Hemingway once saw F. Scott Fitzgerald’s penis!

Zelda once mocked her husband F. Scott’s, well, masculinity in a restaurant, saying that he could never fully please a lover in the bedroom. Hemingway offered to go inside the men’s room and assess the situation himself. When he did, he was pleased to announce that Fitzgerald’s size was perfectly fine.

19. Ernest Hemingway’s wife lost a bag filled with his manuscripts

In 1922, Hadley Richardson, at Ernest Hemingway’s request, packed up practically all her husband’s writing — including carbon copies— to send to an editor. She brought the bag with her to a railway station in Paris, where it went lost. Hemingway lost a novel he was working on, as well poetry pieces and short tales. The bag was never found, and the material was never retrieved.

20. Ernest Hemingway and Hadley’s fathers both killed themselves

Ernest Hemingway was ready to take a train to Florida in the winter when he received a wire informing him that his father had killed himself. Hemingway was horrified; he had written to his father earlier that day, encouraging him not to worry about his money problems; the letter came minutes after the suicide. “I’ll probably go the same way,” he said, realizing how Hadley must have felt following her father’s suicide in 1903.

21. Ernest Hemingway was nicknamed “Papa”

Even his older friends referred to him by “Papa”. According to Hadley, Ernest Hemingway gave most of his friends nicknames but this one was dedicated to him as he was often the one to do favors for his friends, and his friends, in a way, looked up to him.

22. Ernest Hemingway brought his mistress on his family vacation

Ernest Hemingway dared to bring Pauline Pfeiffer along with his family vacation to Pamplona in 1926, fully aware that his marriage with Hadley was deteriorating and that Hadley herself, knew of his affair with Pfeiffer. However, it was Pfeiffer who urged Hemingway to sign a contract with Scribner for the publication of The Sun Also Rises, against Hadley’s advice.

23. Ernest Hemingway married Pfeiffer only 4 months after his divorce

Hadley filed for a divorce when they returned to Paris, accepting Ernest Hemingway’s offer of the profit from The Sun Also Rises. The couple had only one son at the time, Jack. In January 1927, the couple split, and Hemingway married Pfeiffer in May the same year.

24. Ernest Hemingway was embarrassed to admit where his forehead scar came from

When Ernest Hemingway pulled a skylight down on his head in their Paris bathroom, thinking he was tugging on a toilet chain, he sustained a serious injury. He was left with a large forehead scar that he would have to live with for the rest of his life. When asked about the scar, Hemingway was unwilling to reply.

25. Ernest Hemingway loved polydactyl cats

Ernest Hemingway was a big fan of polydactyl cats (cats having six or more toes on each foot, instead of the usual five). “Snowball” was the name of his first and he got so charmed with the six-toed kittens that he soon had 50 wandering about his Key West house. In fact, polydactyl cats have been so associated with him that they are now known as “Hemingway cats.”

26. Ernest Hemingway had a boxing ring in his backyard

Besides writing, Ernest Hemingway’s other life passion was boxing. Having practiced it since childhood, he was quite the boxer and at one point was considered a successful amateur boxer. He even had a boxing ring built in the backyard of his Key West home, right next to the pool, so that he could spar with guests.

27. Ernest Hemingway once got into a fistfight with Orson Welles

Ernest Hemingway and Orson Welles met because Hemingway wanted Welles to narrate a film he had created, Welles explains; they saw it together in a dark theatre and got into a fistfight when Welles began narrating the film, but in a snarky, sarcastic way. Both of them began swinging at each other, but they generally missed each other. “The lights came up, and we looked at each other, and burst into laughter, and became great friends,” Welles says.

28. Ernest Hemingway had a fish named after him….  

Ernest Hemingway bought a boat, the Pilar, in 1934 and began cruising the Caribbean. He invited Henry Weed Fowler, the Academy’s ichthyologist who stayed with Hemingway for six weeks, and they developed a friendship that lasted after the trip. Hemingway sent specimens to Fowler afterward and Fowler named the spiny-cheek scorpionfish (Neomerithe Hemingway) after him.

29. Ernest Hemingway was quite the fisherman himself

Ernest Hemingway was a skilled fisherman. During his trip to the Bahamas in 1935, he decided to try something different with fishing and fired a machine gun at sharks to keep them from devouring his catch. This strategy clearly failed, as he ended up drawing additional sharks with the blood of his prey. However, in 1938, he set a world record by capturing seven marlins in a single day.

30. Ernest Hemingway had a plan to battle boats using his fishing boat, the Pilar

During World War II, German U-boats targeted American ships in the Caribbean on a regular basis. Hemingway devised a scheme to sabotage the submarines using the Pilar, his personal fishing boat. The Office of Naval Intelligence helped in the outfitting of the Pilar with ammunition, radio equipment, and refurbished engines, as part of Hemingway’s Operation Friendless. Fortunately, the writer and his crew were never confronted by a U-boat, and his scheme was never put to the test.

31. Ernest Hemingway once wrote a six-word story

As a part of a bar room bet, Hemingway squeezed his brain into writing a short story formed of only 6 words. It reads, “For sale: baby shoes, never worn.” It is often called the saddest, shortest story every written.

32. J.D. Salinger was a big fan of Ernest Hemingway

During WWII, J.D. Salinger met and corresponded with Ernest Hemingway, whom he credited as having influenced him. Salinger humorously “named himself national chairman of the Hemingway Fan Clubs” and in a letter to Hemingway, claimed their conversations “had given him his only hopeful minutes of the entire war.”

33. Ernest Hemingway tracked his daily word count on a cardboard

Ernest Hemingway was in a way, obsessed with tracking his productivity. Hemingway mentioned in an interview that he preferred to keep track of his daily progress on a huge cardboard chart “so as not to fool [himself].” Daily output was represented by the numbers 450, 474, 362, and 1250 on the chart. Hemingway would push himself extra harder on days when he was particularly productive so that he wouldn’t feel bad about going fishing the next day.

34. Ernest Hemingway met his third wife in the Spanish Civil War

Despite Pauline’s opposition to him working in a war zone, Hemingway traveled to Spain in 1937 to document the Spanish Civil War. He met Martha Gellhorn there, and his hard and gradual separation from Pauline started. In 1939, Martha joined him in Cuba. Pauline and the children left Hemingway that summer and after his divorce from Pauline was finalized, he married Martha in 1940.

35. Martha had a lot of common with his two previous wives

 Like Hadley, Martha was a St. Louis native, and like Pauline, she had worked for Vogue in Paris.

36. Ernest Hemingway was accused of war crimes in the Spanish Civil War

During the Spanish Civil War, Ernest Hemingway was accused of war crimes as he guided soldiers while he wasn’t legally permitted to do that as a civilian journalist. He also removed his journalistic patches from his clothing. However, he was eventually found not guilty.

37. Ernest Hemingway traveled to China with Martha and may have worked as a spy there

Martha was assigned to Collier‘s magazine and traveled to China taking Ernest Hemingway with her. Hemingway’s position as “Agent Argo” in 1941 is suggested by certain entries from Stalin’s intelligence archives. Hemingway eagerly accepted the KGB’s recruiting before going to China. He turned out to be a terrible spy. By the end of the decade, contact with Agent Argo had totally ceased due to his failure to provide any political intelligence. As a result, we’ll never know if he took the job as a joke, or maybe he just wasn’t a very good spy.

38. Ernest Hemingway forced Martha to cross the Atlantic in a ship filled with explosives

Ernest Hemingway refused to help Martha get a press pass on a plane, so she had to get on a ship, which was filled with explosives. Quite a stressful experience! When she set foot in London, she was pleased to find him hospitalized with a concussion from a car accident. She was unsympathetic and told him that she was “through, absolutely finished.” Their divorce was finalized later in 1945.

39. Ernest Hemingway once led an expedition to liberate the Ritz Hotel

While Ernest Hemingway was covering the last days of the second world war, he heard that the German forces had turned one of his favorite spots, Paris’s Ritz Hotel, into their headquarter. This irritated the writer, who had built a strong attachment to the opulent hotel during his time in Paris in the 1920s. Hemingway led a ragged crew of fighters called the “Irregulars” on a mission to “liberate” the hotel from its occupiers. They discovered the Germans had left when they arrived. However, he ended up going to the bar and was said to have had more than 50 martinis on his tab by the time he was done drinking that night.

40. Ernest Hemingway asked Mary Welsh to marry him on their 3rd meeting

From May 1944 until March 1945, Ernest Hemingway resided in Europe. During his stay in London, he met Mary Welsh, a Time magazine journalist, and quickly fell in love with her. Perhaps too quickly, on their third encounter, he asked Mary Welsh to marry him. In 1946, they tied the knot.

41. The first years of Welsh’s and Hemingway’s marriage were disastrous

Mary Welsh had an ectopic pregnancy only five months after her marriage to Ernest Hemingway. In the years after the war, the Hemingway family had a succession of mishaps and health problems: he smashed his knee in a 1945 vehicle accident. Mary fractured her right ankle and then her left ankle in separate skiing incidents. He suffered from terrible headaches, high blood pressure, weight issues, and finally diabetes throughout this time, much of it as a result of past injuries and years of excessive drinking.

42. Ernest Hemingway was in two successive plan accidents in two days

During a trip to Africa in 1954, Ernest Hemingway was almost killed in two plane crashes. As a Christmas present to Mary, he planned a sightseeing flight. The plane, however, collided with an abandoned power pole and crashed into the forest. Hemingway suffered a head wound, and Mary fractured two ribs. The next day, in an attempt to obtain medical help, they boarded a second plane, which exploded on takeoff, leaving Hemingway with burns and a second concussion, this one severe enough to induce brain fluid leakage.

43. Ernest Hemingway got to read his obituaries

After surviving two plane crashes, Ernest Hemingway arrived at Entebbe, only to find that reporters were covering the story of his death. He briefed the reporters but spent the next couple of weeks reading his obituaries while trying to recuperate.

44. Ernest Hemingway used to write while standing

Long before standing desks were a thing, Ernest Hemingway spent his mornings writing while standing in front of his desk. He often spent hours in the same position, only moving to shift his weight from one leg to the other.

45. Ernest Hemingway used pencils and typewriters, each for a purpose

While Ernest Hemingway wrote most of his work by scribbling with a pencil, he explained to a reporter from the New Yorker that he used a typewriter when he needed to get his thoughts written faster, as the case with dialogues. He explains: “When the people are talking, I can hardly write it fast enough or keep up with it.”

46. Ernest Hemingway believed the FBI was following him — and he was right

Ernest Hemingway got increasingly worried about being tracked by the FBI in his final years. The feds had “bugged everything,” he told a friend and were monitoring his letters and reviewing his accounts. These ideas were seen as symptoms of Hemingway’s mental illness. Hemingway’s FBI file, on the other hand, was made public after his death, and the FBI had indeed filed a file on him during WWII and continued to watch him for the rest of his life.

47. Ernest Hemingway refrained from drinking while working

Despite his fondness for alcohol, Ernest Hemingway never drank while working. In an interview, he was questioned if the allegations about his bringing a pitcher of martinis to work every morning were accurate, to which he replied: “Jesus Christ! Have you ever heard of anyone who drank while he worked? You’re thinking of Faulkner. He does sometimes – and I can tell right in the middle of a page when he’s had his first one. Besides, who in hell would mix more than one martini at a time?”

48. There’s a myth that Ernest Hemingway invented the Bloody Mary drink

Ernest Hemingway was such a well-known prolific alcoholic that legend has it that he invented the legendary drink “Bloody Mary.” His physicians had forbidden him from drinking alcohol, and his wife, Mary, was keeping him to it, according to the tale. The vodka-and-tomato juice drink was made for him by a Ritz bartender, and it was full of liquor that couldn’t be identified owing to the other powerful components. After triumphing over his “bloody wife,” the drink was named after her. However, this myth has been debunked way too many times.

49. ….but we know for sure Ernest Hemingway invented the Papa Doble

However, it is true that during his time in Havana, Ernest Hemingway did invent a drink: the Papa Doble. Journalists and visitors took notes on the cocktail recipe for preservation, however, there are minor differences in the precise proportions. White rum, half a lime, two tablespoons of grapefruit juice, and a maraschino cherry make up this cocktail. It’s also a well-known truth that Hemingway likes his drinks with a lot of ice in them.

50. Ernest Hemingway was sick… a lot

Physically, Ernest Hemingway went through a lot. Ever the tough guy, he survived skin cancer, anthrax, malaria, dysentery, hepatitis, anemia, high blood pressure, a ruptured kidney, a burst spleen, a ruptured liver, pneumonia, a crushed vertebra, a broken skull, three vehicle accidents, and two planes crashed during his lifetime.

51. Ernest Hemingway suffered from depression and received Electro-Convulsive Shock treatment

Throughout his life, Ernest Hemingway battled depression. His bouts of depression were nicknamed “black dog days” by him. In 1960, he underwent electro-convulsive shock treatment up to 15 times in an attempt to find relief. Unfortunately, his memory was harmed as a result of this therapy, making it difficult for him to continue writing. He mentioned to at least one friend that it was this that drove him to commit suicide.

What famous books did Ernest Hemingway write?

52. Ernest Hemingway trolled his original publisher into terminating their contract with him

Ernest Hemingway signed a three-book deal with Boni & Liveright, which included a termination clause that would kick in if they rejected any of Ernie’s submissions. Hemingway submitted The Torrents of Spring, which was a novella dumping on Boni & Liveright client Sherwood Anderson. The folks at B&L didn’t think it was very funny and enacted the termination clause. Oh Ernie, you bastard.

53. The Sun Also Rises was inspired by the Festival of San Fermín in Pamplona, Spain

Ernest Hemingway initially visited Spain in 1923 with his wife Hadley, when he got intrigued by bullfighting. He began writing the manuscript of what would become The Sun Also Rises a few days after the fiesta ended, on his birthday, and finished it eight weeks later. The novel is based on people he encountered in postwar France and his fascination with the festival. It depicts a voyage by a group of Bohemians from Paris to Pamplona in the 1920s.

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54. Ernest Hemingway rewrote the ending of A Farewell to Arms at least 47 times

The serialization of A Farewell to Arms in Scribner’s Magazine was meant to begin in May 1929, but Hemingway was still working on the finale as late as April, which he may have changed seventeen times. On September 27 1929, the work was completed and released but in 2012, an edition with no less than 47(!) alternate endings was published.

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55. Ernest Hemingway once hit a critic for giving Death in the Afternoon a bad review

Death in the Afternoon was a detailed dissertation on bullfighting, complete with glossaries and appendices, that explained the sport thoroughly. Max Eastman, who had given Ernest Hemingway’s novel a terrible review, went as far as doubting his manhood in the review and questioning the “fake hair” on his chest within the book’s review. Some years after Eastman’s criticism had been published, the two men met in the office of Hemingway’s editor, and Ernest bared his authentically hairy chest to Eastman before flooring the reviewer with a slap.

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56. For Whom the Bell Tolls was nominated for Pulitzer Prize

Ernest Hemingway began writing For Whom the Bell Tolls in March 1939 and finished it in July 1940, and it was published in October 1940. It was chosen as a Book-of-the-Month Club selection, sold half a million copies in months, was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize, and “triumphantly re-established Hemingway’s literary reputation,” according to Meyers.

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57. Ernest Hemingway wrote The Old Man and the Sea out of spite

Outraged by the critical reaction to Across the River and Into the Trees, Ernest Hemingway composed the manuscript of The Old Man and the Sea in 8 weeks, and said it was “the greatest I can write ever for all of my life.” The Old Man and the Sea became a book-of-the-month selection, establishing Hemingway as a worldwide superstar, and winning the Pulitzer Prize in May 1952.

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58. Did Ernest Hemingway win the Pulitzer Prize?

Yes. Ernest Hemingway was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for The Old Man and the Sea in May 1952.

59. Ernest Hemingway didn’t like the screen adaptation of The Old Man and the Sea

Ernest Hemingway despised the film adaptation of The Old Man and the Sea (1958) by John Sturges, claiming that Spencer Tracy’s acting made him appear less like a Cuban fisherman and more like the wealthy, elderly actor he was. Ironically, Tracy was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance.

60. Did Ernest Hemingway win the Nobel Prize?

In 1954, Ernest Hemingway won the Nobel Prize in Literature for his: “mastery of the art of narrative, most recently demonstrated in The Old Man and the Sea, and for the influence that he has exerted on contemporary style.”

61. Ernest Hemingway felt as if he didn’t deserve his Nobel Prize

Ernest Hemingway was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature for his work. He did, however, tell the press that Carl Sandburg, Isak Dinesen, and Bernard Berenson were more deserving of the award. He had a sneaking feeling that his recent plane crashes, which had received international media attention, had something to do with him earning the medal. He cheerfully took the award money, however, and donated the medal to the people of Cuba.

62. Ernest Hemingway found the manuscript of his memoir A Moveable Feast in a lost trunk

When in Paris in November 1956, Ernest Hemingway was reminded of trunks he had stashed in the Ritz Hotel in 1928 and never recovered. Hemingway realized the trunks were loaded with notes and writing from his time in Paris when he reclaimed and opened them. When he returned to Cuba in early 1957, he was ecstatic about the finding and began shaping the rediscovered material into A Moveable Feast.

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63. When did The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway come out?

The Sun Also Rises was the debut novel of Ernest Hemingway and first published on October 22, 1926 by Scribner’s. Reviews from critics were good and sales were brisk; the novel required an 8th printing two years later.

64. When did Ernest Hemingway write For Whom the Bell Tolls?

Ernest Hemingway published For Whom the Bell Tolls in 1940. The novel was a literary success and sold 500,000 copies in mere months. It was also a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize.

65. When did Ernest Hemingway write The Old Man and the Sea?

The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway was published in 1952 by Charles Scribner’s Son. The novel was a smash hit, and won both the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and Nobel Prize in Literature. It would also be the last novel Hemingway would publish in his lifetime.

Ernest Hemingway: Death & Legacy

66. When did Ernest Hemingway die?

On July 2, 1961, in the early hours of the morning, Ernest Hemingway had gone upstairs to the front entry foyer, opened the basement storehouse where his firearms were stored, and shot himself with the “double-barreled shotgun that he had used so often it might have been a friend.”

67. What were Ernest Hemingway’s last words?

The night before his death, Hemingway’s last words were to his wife Mary: “Goodnight my kitten.”

68. Suicide ran in the Hemingway family…

Ernest Hemingway’s behavior in his later years was oddly similar to his father’s before he killed himself. Some theories suggest that it was due to hereditary hemochromatosis, a condition in which tissues accumulate too much iron that can cause mental and physical decline. Hemingway was diagnosed with hemochromatosis in early 1961, according to medical records. His sister Ursula and his brother Leicester both committed suicide. What’s more, Ernest Hemingway’s granddaughter sadly Margaux committed suicide on July 1, 1996, just one day before the anniversary of her grandfather’s death.

69. …but Hemingway’s case might have been different

Other explanations have emerged to explain Hemingway’s mental health decline, including the possibility that many concussions over his life caused him to acquire chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), which eventually led to his suicide.

70. Granddaughter Mariel Hemingway is a successful actor

Born in 1961 merely four months after Ernest Hemingway’s suicide, Mariel Hemingway was named for the Cuban port her grandfather loved to fish. She grew up in Ketchum, Idaho, and her first role was with her sister Margaux in Lipstick (1976). Mariel went on to a pretty successful acting career, even securing an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress. Unfortunately, being a Hemingway, Mariel has had her own struggles with mental health.

71. There’s an annual Ernest Hemingway Lookalike contest

An annual Ernest Hemingway Lookalike Contest is held in Key West, Florida. Bearded men — and even women with artificial white beards – come to the Florida Keys every July to compete in the Hemingway Lookalike Contest in honor of Papa’s birthday. It has been hosted at Sloppy Joe’s bar in Key West since 1981, and it is administered by the Hemingway Look-alike Society; the first competition was judged by Hemingway’s own brother, Leicester.

72. Ernest Hemingway’s name went to space — twice

A minor planet was found in 1978 by Soviet astronomer Nikolai Chernykh and named Hemingway, and a crater on Mercury was named after him in 2009.

73. There is a foundation, society, and also awards created in his honor

The Hemingway Foundation was founded by Mary Hemingway in 1965, and she donated her husband’s papers to the John F. Kennedy Library in the 1970s. The Hemingway Society was founded in 1980 by a group of Hemingway scholars who assembled to analyze the donated documents. Several awards, notably the Hemingway Foundation/PEN Award and the Hemingway Award, have been established in Hemingway’s remembrance to acknowledge noteworthy achievements in the arts and culture.

Final Thoughts on Ernest Hemingway

While Ernest Hemingway’s life had its dark sides tainted with his alcoholism, fist fights, and his tragic ending, he certainly had one heck of a well-lived life. It’s hard to believe that his writings would fail to catch a reader’s interest, but even so, no person can genuinely claim that he wasn’t an intriguing figure. Ernest Hemingway flirted with death on many occasions and always managed to escape its grip — but ultimately Ernest Hemingway couldn’t escape himself. With good and bad, Ernest Hemingway fully lived the life he wished, and despite all odds, he had his fun up to the end.

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