Robert Anderson (playwright)
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Robert Woodruff Anderson | |
|---|---|
| Spouse | Phyllis Stohl (1940-1956) Teresa Wright (1959-1978) |
Robert Anderson (April 28, 1917 – February 9, 2009) was an American playwright, screenwriter, and theater producer.
Born Robert Woodruff Anderson in New York City, he perhaps is best known as the author of Tea and Sympathy, which made its Broadway debut in 1953 and was made into an MGM film in 1956. Both versions starred Deborah Kerr and John Kerr.
Anderson also wrote the screenplays for Until They Sail (1957), The Nun's Story (1959), and The Sand Pebbles (1966). He was Oscar-nominated for the The Nun's Story as well as the 1970 screen adaptation of his play I Never Sang for My Father.
Anderson also wrote the novels After (1973) and Getting Up and Going Home (1978).
Anderson was married to Phyllis Stohl from 1940 until her death in 1956 and actress Teresa Wright from 1959 until their divorce in 1978. He was educated at Phillips Exeter Academy, which he later said he found a lonely experience. While there he fell in love with an older woman, an event which later surfaced in Tea and Sympathy. Anderson also attended Harvard University, where he took an undergraduate as well as a master's degree.[1]
Anderson died of pneumonia on February 9, 2009 at his home in Manhattan. He had been suffering from Alzheimer's disease for seven years prior to his death. [1]
Selected Plays
- Tea and Sympathy (1953)
- All Summer Long (1955)
- Silent Night, Lonely Night (1960)
- You Know I Can't Hear You When the Water's Running (1967)
- I Never Sang for My Father (1968)
- Absolute Strangers (1991)
- The Last Act Is a Solo (1991)