Paul Osborn | |
|---|---|
| Born | September 4, 1901 |
| Died | May 12, 1988(1988-05-12) (aged 86) US |
| Occupation | Playwright, screenwriter |
| Alma mater | University of Michigan |
| Genre | Drama |
Paul Osborn (September 4, 1901 – May 12, 1988) was an Americanplaywright andscreenwriter. Osborn's original plays areThe Vinegar Tree,Oliver Oliver, andMorning's at Seven and among his several successful adaptations,On Borrowed Time has proved particularly popular. He wrote the screenplays forEast of Eden (1955) andSouth Pacific (1958), among other films.
Born inEvansville, Indiana, he grew up in Michigan where his father was a Baptist minister. He went on to graduate from theUniversity of Michigan. At the university, he formed a lasting friendship with Poet-in-ResidenceRobert Frost and earned a B.A. in English and an M.A. in psychology. Following a brief stint as a student ofGeorge Pierce Baker, the noted teacher of dramatic form and founder of the Yale School of Drama atYale University, he made his debut on Broadway in 1928 with the playHotbed. His next playA Ledge was produced the following season.
In 1930, Osborn found singular success on Broadway with a comedy titledThe Vinegar Tree that starredMary Boland. He contributed the comedyOliver Oliver to the 1934 Broadway season, and in 1984 that play won critical acclaim at the Long Wharf Theater and the Philadelphia Drama Guild withBoyd Gaines in the title role. On the opening night in New Haven, the audience gaveOliver Oliver a standing ovation; and Osborn, who suffered macular degeneration, quipped, "I thought they were standing to get their coats."[1]
Although often noted for his adaptations, Osborn's 1939 comedy,Morning's at Seven, became one of Osborn's most enduring original works. It was revived on Broadway in 1980, directed byVivian Matalon, featuring a cast includingTeresa Wright,Maureen O'Sullivan,Nancy Marchand andElizabeth Wilson. It was hailed byHarold Clurman "as one of the best American comedies"[2]Morning's at Seven has been presented several times on television, including a version directed by Matalon. In 2002, the Lincoln Center Theater mounted a well-received production withElizabeth Franz,Frances Sternhagen,Piper Laurie andEstelle Parsons as the four sisters. The play received numerous nominations for awards, as did the acting ensemble, with Elizabeth Franz cited in particular
Osborn's dramatization ofOn Borrowed Time has had three productions on Broadway,Joshua Logan directed the premiere in 1938 withDudley Digges,Frank Conroy andDorothy Stickney leading the cast. The 1953 revival featuredVictor Moore,Leo G. Carroll andBeulah Bondi; and in 1991George C. Scott directed himself,Nathan Lane andTeresa Wright in the play. The 1939MGM movie ofOn Borrowed Time starsLionel Barrymore,Cedric Hardwicke andBobs Watson and Beulah Bondi. Osborn's rich contribution to the American theater includes the adaptationsA Bell for Adano (1944);Point of No Return;The World of Susie Wong;The Innocent Voyage; and an original verse play, based on Greek myths,Maiden Voyage.
Paul Osborn had a gift for friendship: Al Hirschfeld, Elia Kazan, Robert Frost. Frost, while becoming America's most noted poet, remained a close friend, intrigued by theater and travelling to New York for Osborn's first nights. Frost hoped to write a play in collaboration with his former student.
Tomorrow's Monday, a somewhat autobiographical play, was written in 1935–36. It was first produced at the Brattleboro Theatre in Vermont, in the summer of 1936 and had its New York premiere fifty years later at theCircle Repertory Company in the fall of 1985. According to Kent Paul, who directed that production,Al Hirschfeld, the New York Times theater artist, remarked to his friend Osborn, "I likeTomorrow's Monday even more thanMorning's at Seven."
Elia Kazan, in his autobiographyA Life, credits Osborn with guiding him to the section of the novelEast of Eden to film as well as discoveringJames Dean for the film.[3] In his documentaryA Letter to Elia, Martin Scorsese argues that the little knownWild River, which starsMontgomery Clift,Lee Remick andJo Van Fleet, is among Kazan's finest achievements. Osborn's screenplay forWild River is an outstanding literary achievement, providing scope for Kazan's directorial imagination.
Rodgers & Hammerstein and the director Joshua Logan first asked Osborn to write the book forSouth Pacific when it was done for the stage (Logan himself finally did it), and achieved their objective when Osborn agreed to make the screenplay.[citation needed]
Paul Osborn and his wife Millicent, a fiction writer, lived in New York City. Before their marriage in 1939 (Osborn's second), Millicent Green had had a successful career as an actress on Broadway, in the 1928 production ofMachinal withClark Gable and inStreet Scene (1931), a performance that is captured in a Hirschfeld drawing included in his book withBrooks Atkinson,The Lively Years 1920 - 1973 (Morning's at Seven is one of the plays cited and discussed.) Problems with his eyesight left Osborn virtually blind his latter years when he dictated a lengthy memoir that he never finished "because I can't read it". The memoir remains unpublished.[citation needed]
Among his screenplays would be the adaptation of John Steinbeck'sEast of Eden (1955) andWild River (1960) for his friendElia Kazan,South Pacific (1958) andSayonara directed byJoshua Logan, as well asMadame Curie (1943),The Yearling (1946), andPortrait of Jennie (1948).[4] He had received Academy Award nominations for the screenplays forSayonara andEast of Eden, and Writers Guild of America nominations forSouth Pacific,Sayonara andEast of Eden.
Osborn received a Tony Award for Best Broadway Revival in 1980 forMorning's at Seven. In 1982, two years after the Tony forMorning's at Seven, Osborn won theLaurel Award for Screenwriting Achievement from the Writers Guild of America.
