Ingeborg Day
Ingeborg Day (née Seiler; November 6, 1940 – May 18, 2011) was an Austrian–American author who wrote the semi-autobiographical erotic novel Nine and a Half Weeks which she published under the pseudonym Elizabeth McNeill and which was made into the 1986 film of the same name starring Kim Basinger and Mickey Rourke.
Also recorded as Elizabeth McNeill
Ingeborg Day
- Name
- Ingeborg Day
- Birth Name
- Ingeborg Seiler
- Born
- November 6, 1940
- Birthplace
- Graz, Austria
- Died
- 18 May 2011
- Place of death
- Ashland, Oregon, United States
- Occupation
- Author
- Spouse
- Dennis Day (before 1963 – before 1978)
- Education
- Goshen College
- Full name
- Ingeborg Seller.
- Nationality
- United States.
- Known for
- Nine and a Half Weeks.
VALÉORINE Encyclopedia
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Documentary summary
Ingeborg Day (née Seiler; November 6, 1940 – May 18, 2011) was an Austrian–American author who wrote the semi-autobiographical erotic novel Nine and a Half Weeks which she published under the pseudonym Elizabeth McNeill and which was made into the 1986 film of the same name starring Kim Basinger and Mickey Rourke.
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Note VALÉORINE
Ingeborg Day was an American novelist and writer. Born Ingeborg Seller in Graz, the novelist died in Ashland. Ingeborg Day was also known as Elizabeth McNeill. Works include Nine and a Half Weeks.
Composed from admitted, traceable facts · 01 October 2026
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Documentary evidence
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Authority files
wikidata · Q1662872 · wikipedia · Ingeborg Day
In this article
Key facts
Key facts
• Name — Ingeborg Day • Pen Name — Elizabeth McNeill • Birth Name — Ingeborg Seiler • Born — November 6, 1940 • Birthplace — Graz, Austria • Died — 18 May 2011 • Place of death — Ashland, Oregon, United States • Occupation — Author • Spouse — Dennis Day (before 1963 – before 1978) • Children — 2 • Education — Goshen College • Genre — Fiction • Notable Work — 9½ Weeks
Life
Life
Day was born in Graz, Austria, in November 1940. Her father, Ernst Seiler, was a member of the Nazi SS organization. She spent the last two years of the war on her grandmother's farm. In 1957, as a high school student, she participated in the AFS exchange program, living with an American family for one year and attending Eastwood High School in Syracuse, New York. She met and married a trainee priest named Dennis Day, and they moved to Indiana, where she attained a B.A. in German studies from Goshen College, and spent several years teaching in Kenosha, Wisconsin. They had a daughter, Ursula, in 1963, and a son, Mark, who died at the age of seven. Day left her husband and moved to Manhattan with artist Tom Shannon and became an editor at Ms magazine. It was during this time that the affair happened that is portrayed in 9½ Weeks. In 1978, she published the novel 9½ Weeks under the pseudonym Elizabeth McNeill. In 1980, she published her memoir Ghost Waltz. In 1991, she married Donald Sweet, a man 14 years her senior. They moved to Ashland, Oregon, shortly after the wedding. She died by suicide on May 18, 2011, aged 70, after several years of illness. Her husband died four days later.
Identity and overview
Identity and overview
The following is established of the heading itself.
Origins and background
Origins and background
The following is established of origins and background. Born in 1940 at Graz. It is also recorded that ingeborg Day died in 2011 at Ashland. Recorded at birth as Ingeborg Seller.
Places
Named by the record
Places
Only places the record itself states, plotted where the house gazetteer settles their coordinates. Nothing is inferred from a name or a nationality.
Graz.
Birth place
Ashland.
Death place
Books
Books
• Nine and a Half Weeks: A Memoir of a Love Affair (1978, E. P. Dutton) • Ghost Waltz: A Memoir (1980, Viking Press)
Publications and editions
Catalogued output
Publications and editions
The following works and productions are recorded by name or by count. Institutional cataloguing adds that ingeborg Day is recorded with the occupation writer. It is also recorded that ingeborg Day is recorded with the occupation novelist. Institutional cataloguing adds that ingeborg Day is recorded as a citizen of United States. Recorded with the gender female. It is also recorded that ingeborg Day was born on 6 November 1940. It is also recorded that ingeborg Day died on 18 May 2011.
Primary material
Documents and archives
Institutional database
- Wikidata, structured authority record Q1662872: Ingeborg Day
Scholarly · Wikimedia Foundation
reference work
- “Ingeborg Day”, English Wikipedia, consulted as further reading
Reputable secondary · Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
Cited by Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
These works are cited by the source article, in its own numbering. They are recorded as its citations, not as sources VALÉORINE has verified.
- 1.Sarah Weinman. Who Was the Real Woman Behind "Nine and a Half Weeks"?. The New Yorker. November 2012.
- 2.Elizabeth McNeill, 1978, Nine and a Half Weeks: A Memoir of a Love Affair
- 3.Ingeborg Day, 1980, Ghost Waltz
- 4.Ingeborg Sweet Obituary – Ashland, Oregon – Tributes.com. www.tributes.com.
- 5.Weinman, Sarah. Who Was the Real Woman Behind "Nine and a Half Weeks"?. The New Yorker. 2012-11-30.
- 6.Donald Sweet Obituary – Ashland, Oregon – Tributes.com. www.tributes.com.
References
Citations
References
Each reference names the institution holding it, so a reader may go to the document itself.
Institutional database
Wikidata, structured authority record Q1662872: Ingeborg DayWikimedia Foundation
Institutional witnessreference work
Secondary witness
Further particulars
Held on the record
Further particulars
Open the remaining particulars
This entry is compiled from 8 catalogued sources across 4 independent registers. The registers consulted are Crossref registry, Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation and Internet Archive. Every statement above is held against the register that stated it; where the registers are silent, the entry is silent.
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 17 August 2026.
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