George Tabori | |
|---|---|
 Tabori in 2003, photo byOliver Mark | |
| Born | György Tábori (1914-05-24)24 May 1914 |
| Died | 23 July 2007(2007-07-23) (aged 93) Berlin, Germany |
| Occupation | Writer |
| Years active | 1950–2007 |
| Spouses | |
| Relatives | Paul Tabori (brother) |
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George Tabori (néGyörgy Tábori; 24 May 1914 – 23 July 2007) was a Hungarian writer andtheatre director.
Tabori was born inBudapest as György Tábori, a son of Kornél (Cornelius) and Elsa Tábori. He was raised as a Catholic, and was only told about his Jewish origin when he was seven years old. His father Kornél was murdered inAuschwitz in 1944, but his mother and his brother Paul Tabori (writer and psychical researcher), managed to escape the Nazis.[1] As a young man, Tabori travelled toBerlin but was forced to leaveNazi Germany in 1935 because of hisJewish background. He first went to London, where he worked for theBBC and received British citizenship. In 1947 he emigrated to the United States, where he became a translator (mainly of works byBertolt Brecht andMax Frisch) and a screenwriter[2] including Alfred Hitchcock's movieI Confess (1953).
His first novel,Beneath The Stone, was published in America in 1945. In the late 1960s, Tabori brought his own and the work of Brecht to many colleges and universities. At theUniversity of Pennsylvania he taught classes in dramatic writing which resulted in Werner Liepolt'sThe Young Master Dante andRon Cowen'sSummertree. His playThe Niggerlovers debuted in 1967 starringMorgan Freeman andStacy Keach.[3] Two of Tabori's plays in English --The Cannibals andPinkville—were produced byWynn Handman at theAmerican Place Theatre in New York City from 1968 through 1970. His playThe Prince was filmed byJohn Boorman asLeo the Last (1970) withMarcello Mastroianni andBillie Whitelaw; the film won the Director's Prize at theCannes Film Festival in that year.
During his period in America, Tabori marriedViveca Lindfors. In addition to his own child, Lena, with Lindfors, Tabori adopted Lindfors' two sons (from her marriage to film directorDon Siegel), John andKristoffer. Kristoffer later became an actor and Lena a publisher.
In 1971, Tabori moved toWest Germany, where his new emphasis was theater work, and mainly worked in West Berlin, Munich, and Vienna. His 1991Goldberg Variations is a satirical farce based on Biblical stories which end in disaster.[4]
He died in Berlin, aged 93.[2]
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