Irwin Shaw was a prolific American playwright, screenwriter, novelist, and short-story author whose written works have sold more than 14 million copies. He is best-known for his novel, The Young Lions

The Young Lions

The Young Lions is a 1958 war drama film directed by Edward Dmytryk, based upon the 1949 novel of the same name by Irwin Shaw, and starring Marlon Brando, Montgomery Clift, and Dean Martin.-Outline:...

 (1948) about the fate of three soldiers during World War II that was made into a film starring Marlon Brando

Marlon Brando

Marlon Brando, Jr. was an American movie star and political activist. "Unchallenged as the most important actor in modern American Cinema" according to the St...

. Though Shaw's work received widespread critical acclaim, the success of his commercial fiction ultimately diminished his literary reputation.

Shaw was born Irwin Gilbert Shamforoff in the South Bronx, New York City, to Russian

Russians

The Russian people are an East Slavic ethnic group native to Russia, speaking the Russian language and primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries....

-Jewish immigrants.