In college, Updike married Mary Pennington. The couple lived in England for a year, during which Updike studied at the Ruskin School of Drawing at Oxford.

While abroad, E.B. White offered Updike a staff position at The New Yorker, where he worked for the next two years. Updike became one of the magazine's signature writers.

He is seen here with his wife, Mary, in 1964. The two divorced in 1977.