GARSON KANIN (Playwright) A 20th-century American renaissance man, Garson Kanin had a rich and diverse career in theater, film, and television. Despite not being a household name today, his remarkable, far-reaching accomplishments include five plays, two musicals, eight screenplays, and six novels. Born in Rochester, NY in 1912, Kanin began as an actor and directed his first Broadway play in 1936, Hitch Your Wagon. During World War II he co-directed the AcademyAward winning documentary True Glory and married actress and future writing partner Ruth Gordon.

 

Born Yesterday opened February 4th, 1946 on Broadway and was adapted for film in 1950 starring Judy Holliday. Kanin also wrote the screenplay for It Should Happen To You for Holliday. In 1955 he directed the London and Broadway premiere of The Diary of Anne Frank while shifting his writing towards books and short stories such as Tracy and Hepburn: An Intimate Memoir. His novel, Do Re Mi, was adapted into a 1960’s musical which he directed. In 1964 he directed Funny Girl on Broadway starring Barbra Streisand and created the CBS television series, Mr. Broadway featuring Liza Minnelli in her first dramatic TV role. His novel, Smash from 1980, was adapted into a musical dramedy on NBC in 2012. In 1985 Kanin was inducted into The Theater Hall of Fame in 1985, wrote and directed Peccadillo starring Christopher Plummer on Broadway and lost his wife and artistic partner of 40 years, Ruth Gordon. Kanin remarried in 1990 to actress Marian Seldes. In 1997 he was honored by the Society of Stage Directors and Choreographers with the Mr. Abbott Award for lifetime achievement. He died in 1999 in New York City and his words, commemorated on a bronze plaque across from the New York Public Library, say: “I want everybody to be smart. As smart as they can be. A world of ignorant people is too dangerous to live in.”