Arthur Laurents


Arthur Laurents (born July 14, 1918) is an American playwright, novelist, screenwriter, librettist and stage director.

Contents

Biography

Early life

Laurents was born and grew up in Brooklyn. His father was a lawyer. The family was Jewish. Laurents was attending Cornell University when he was drafted into the U.S. Army before Pearl Harbor. He began writing scripts for radio and in 1945 penned his first play, Home of the Brave. It was a drama set during World War II about anti-semitism in the military. During the era of McCarthyism, Laurents was blacklisted by the Hollywood movie studio bosses and for several years none of his work was used in film.

Career

Laurents wrote a number of plays including the 1952 hit The Time of the Cuckoo, Invitation to a March, The Enclave, and Jolson Sings Again.

He wrote the books for several musicals including West Side Story, Gypsy, Anyone Can Whistle, and Do I Hear a Waltz? based on his play The Time of the Cuckoo.

Laurents directed several Broadway productions including the musicals I Can Get It for You Wholesale (with the then-unknown Barbra Streisand) and La Cage Aux Folles.

Laurents wrote two novels, The Way We Were and The Turning Point. Both became successful films for which Laurents wrote the screenplays.

He wrote the screenplays for Anatole Litvak's The Snake Pit, Anastasia, and the Hitchcock's film Rope. The play The Time of the Cuckoo later became the David Lean/Katherine Hepburn film Summertime.

In 2000, Laurents published a memoir, Original Story By.[1] In it, the author reveals that he is gay and had relationships with Farley Granger and Tom Hatcher.[2] Laurents and Hatcher were together for more than fifty years until Hatcher's death on October 26, 2006.[3]

Work

The Snake Pit (1948)
The Snake Pit (1948)

Libretti

Direction

Plays

  • Invitation to a March - 1960
  • A Clearing in the Woods - 1957
  • The Time of the Cuckoo - 1952
  • The Bird Cage - 1950
  • Home of the Brave - 1945

References

  1. ^ Laurents, Arthur (2000). Original story by : a memoir of Broadway and Hollywood. New York: Knopf. ISBN 0375400559. 
  2. ^ Patricia Bosworth (2000-04-16). "He Wrote the Book", The New York Times. Retrieved on 2008-01-04. 
  3. ^ Andrew Salomon (1 November 2006). "Tom Hatcher, Actor and Companion of Arthur Laurents, Dies", Backstage. Retrieved on 2008-05-21. 

External links


v • d • e
Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Director of a Musical

Arthur Laurents (1975) · Michael Bennett (1976) · Martin Charnin (1977) · Peter Masterson / Tommy Tune / Stephen Schwartz (1978) · Harold Prince (1979) · Harold Prince (1980) · Wilford Leach (1981) · Tommy Tune (1982) · George Abbott (1983) · James Lapine (1984) · Wilford Leach (1986) · Mike Ockrent (1987) · Harold Prince (1988) · Tommy Tune (1990) · Scott Ellis (1991) · Jerry Zaks (1992) · Des McAnuff (1993) · Nicholas Hytner (1994) · Harold Prince (1995) · Christopher Renshaw (1996) · Walter Bobbie (1997) · Julie Taymor (1998) · Matthew Bourne (1999) · Michael Blakemore (2000) · Susan Stroman (2001) · Michael Mayer (2002) · Jack O'Brien (2003) · Joe Mantello (2004) · James Lapine (2005) · John Doyle (2006) · Michael Mayer (2007) · Bartlett Sher (2008)
v • d • e
Tony Award for Best Direction of a Musical

Michael Bennett (1976) · Gene Saks (1977) · Richard Maltby, Jr. (1978) · Harold Prince (1979) · Harold Prince (1980) · Wilford Leach (1981) · Tommy Tune (1982) · Trevor Nunn (1983) · Arthur Laurents (1984) · Des McAnuff (1985) · Wilford Leach (1986) · Trevor Nunn / John Caird (1987) · Harold Prince (1988) · Jerome Robbins (1989) · Tommy Tune (1990) · Tommy Tune (1991) · Jerry Zaks (1992) · Des McAnuff (1993) · Nicholas Hytner (1994) · Harold Prince (1995) · George C. Wolfe (1996) · Walter Bobbie (1997) · Julie Taymor (1998) · Matthew Bourne (1999) · Michael Blakemore (2000)

Complete list: (1947-1975) · (1976-2000) · (2001-present)
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