Movie buffs, sci-fi lovers, and fans of actors Timothée Chalamet + Zendaya are likely well-aware of the new movie adaptation of “Dune” coming out this weekend.
However, locals may be excited to find another connection with the highly anticipated film. Author Frank Herbert was born and raised in Tacoma and spent much of his adult life in Seattle and other areas of the PNW.
According to his biography, “Dreamer of Dune,” a lot of Herbert’s inspiration for the environmental themes in “Dune” grew out of his love for the Puget Sound and frustration with the pollution that plagued the area in the 1950s.
The author was an avid outdoorist who rowed to the San Juan islands at just nine-years-old. He attended the University of Washington after WWII and met his wife, Beverly Ann Stuart, in a creative writing class though he never graduated. They were the only two students in the class to have sold work professionally.
Herbert worked as a reporter in Seattle for several years at publications such as the Seattle Star and Seattle Post-Intelligencer (now the Seattle PI).
Dune Peninsula Park in Tacoma is named after his novel. The Park’s website explains that the site of the park is the old location of the smelter that caused much of the pollution Frank references.
If you’d like to learn more about the PNW’s influence on “Dune,” check out this article from the Oregonian or pick up his bio.
Any other local connections we’re missing? Is there somewhere Herbert used to frequent in Seattle that fans should know about? Let us know.
