James Lee Burke

James Lee Burke, American journalist, author, and academic

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Born: December 5, 1936
Age in 2026: 90
Zodiac sign: Sagittarius
Birth year: 1936

About James Lee Burke

James Lee Burke (born December 5, 1936) is an American author, best known for his Dave Robicheaux series. He has won Edgar Awards for his novels Black Cherry Blues (1990), Cimarron Rose (1998), and Flags on the Bayou (2024). He has also been presented with the Grand Master Award from the Mystery Writers of America. The Robicheaux character has been portrayed twice on screen, first by Alec Baldwin (Heaven's Prisoners) and then Tommy Lee Jones (In the Electric Mist). Wirt Williams, reviewing Burke's first novel, Half of Paradise (1965), in the New York Times, compared his writing to Jean-Paul Sartre and Ernest Hemingway, but concluded "Mr.

Biography source: Wikipedia. The profile adds birthday-specific historical context from the Celebs Birthday Today editorial database.

James Lee Burke timeline

1965Wirt Williams, reviewing Burke's first novel, Half of Paradise (1965), in the New York Times, compared his writing to Jean-Paul Sartre and Ernest Hemingway, but concluded "Mr.
1990He has won Edgar Awards for his novels Black Cherry Blues (1990), Cimarron Rose (1998), and Flags on the Bayou (2024).

The world when James Lee Burke was born

James Lee Burke was born in 1936. The year snapshot below places that birthday in its cultural and historical setting: the music and films people were following, the headlines shaping public life, and the everyday prices families encountered.

Culture in 1936

#1 song"The Way You Look Tonight" – Fred Astaire
Top movieModern Times (Charlie Chaplin)
Top TV showBBC Television Service launches
Best-selling bookGone with the Wind – Margaret Mitchell

Headlines and milestones

Major sports momentJesse Owens wins 4 gold medals at Berlin Olympics
Top headlineJesse Owens dominates the Berlin Olympics
Technology milestoneBBC launches the world's first regular television service
Defining fadSwing dancing
Notable inventionSun glasses (mass-produced)
World population2.26 billion

United States snapshot

U.S. leaderFranklin D. Roosevelt
Sports championNew York Yankees (World Series)
U.S. population128.1M

1936 versus 2026

These figures put everyday life in James Lee Burke's birth year beside the site's latest United States snapshot.

Measure	1936	2026
Gas	$0.19	$3.45/gal
Average home	$5,100	$435,000
Average income	$2,900	$67,500
Minimum wage	$0.25	$7.25/hr (federal)
Movie ticket	$0.25	$11.95
Postage stamp	$0.03	$0.73
Population	128.1M	341 million

Sources and editorial standards

This profile combines a biographical source with structured birthday and historical context. Sources recorded for this profile: Wikipedia, Library of Congress. See our editorial policy for sourcing, corrections, and review standards.

Read the source biography on Wikipedia. Wikipedia text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.