Arthur Laurents

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

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", "", "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". [cite book | last=Laurents | first=Arthur | title=Original story by : a memoir of Broadway and Hollywood | location=New York | publisher=Knopf | year=2000 | isbn=0375400559 ] In it, the author reveals that he is gay and had relationships with Farley Granger and Tom Hatcher. [cite news | author=Patricia Bosworth | title=He Wrote the Book | work=The New York Times | date=2000-04-16 | url=http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9804E4D8123FF935A25757C0A9669C8B63 | accessdate=2008-01-04 ] Laurents and Hatcher were together for more than fifty years until Hatcher's death on October 26, 2006. [cite news | author=Andrew Salomon | title=Tom Hatcher, Actor and Companion of Arthur Laurents, Dies | url=http://www.backstage.com/bso/news_reviews/other_news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003345921 | work=Backstage | date=1 November 2006| accessdate=2008-05-21]

Work

Libretti

*"Nick & Nora" - 1991
*"The Madwoman of Central Park West" - 1979
*"Hallelujah, Baby!" - 1967 - Tony Award for Best Musical
*"Do I Hear a Waltz?" - 1965
*"Anyone Can Whistle" - 1964
*"" - 1959 - Tony Nomination for Best Musical
*"West Side Story" - 1957 - Tony Nomination for Best Musical

Direction

* "Gypsy" - 2008 -- Tony Award nomination as Best Director of a Musical
* "Nick & Nora" - 1991
*"Anyone Can Whistle" - 1964
*"La Cage aux Folles" - 1983 - Tony Award for Best Direction of a Musical
*"The Madwoman of Central Park West" - 1979
*"" - 1974 - Tony Nomination for Best Direction of a Musical
*"I Can Get It for You Wholesale" - 1962
*"Invitation to a March" - 1960

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

External links

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