Arthur Laurents

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

Contents

[edit] Biography

Laurents was born in New York City to a Jewish family. After studying at Cornell University and a stint in the Army, he began writing scripts for radio and, in 1945, wrote his first play, Home of the Brave, a drama set during World War II.

During McCarthyism, Laurents was blacklisted by the Hollywood movie studio bosses and, for several years, none of his work was used in film. Other plays by Laurents include Time of the Cuckoo, Invitation to a March, The Enclave, and Jolson Sings Again. He also has written the books for several musicals, including West Side Story, Gypsy, Anyone Can Whistle, and Do I Hear a Waltz?, which was based on his play Time of the Cuckoo. Laurents has directed several Broadway productions as well, including the musicals I Can Get It for You Wholesale and La Cage Aux Folles.

Laurents has also written two novels, The Way We Were and The Turning Point, both of which became successful films for which Laurents wrote the screenplays. He also wrote the screenplays for The Snake Pit, Anastasia, and the Alfred Hitchcock film Rope. The play '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]

[edit] Work

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

[edit] Libretti

[edit] Direction

[edit] 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

[edit] References

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

[edit] External links


Awards
Preceded by
none		 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Director of a Musical
1974-1975
for Gypsy		 Succeeded by
Michael Bennett
for A Chorus Line
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)