Philip Gordon Wylie (May 12, 1902 - October 25, 1971) was a U.S. author. Born in Beverly, Massachusetts, he was the son of Presbyterian minister Edmund Melville Wylie and the former Edna Edwards, a novelist, who died when he was five years old. His family moved to Montclair, New Jersey and he later attended Princeton University during 1920-1923. Some of his papers, writings, and other possessions are in the Department of Rare Books and Special Collections at Princeton University Library. He married Frederica Ballard who was born and raised in Rushford, New York; they are both buried in Rushford. A writer of fiction and nonfiction, his output included hundreds of short stories, articles, serials, syndicated newspaper columns, novels, and works of social criticism.
He also wrote screenplays while in Hollywood, was an editor for Farrar & Rinehart, served on the Dade County, Florida Defense Council, was a director of the Lerner Marine Laboratory, and at one time was a special advisor to the chairman of the Joint Committee for Atomic Energy. Most of his major writings contain critical, though often philosophical, views on man and society as a result of his studies and interest in psychology, biology, ethnology, and physics. Over nine movies were made from novels or stories by Wylie. He sold the rights for two others that never got produced.