Maxwell Anderson
Encyclopedia
James Maxwell Anderson was an American playwright
, author
, poet
, journalist
and lyricist
.
, the second of eight children to William Lincoln "Link" Anderson, a Baptist
minister, and Charlotte Perrimela Stephenson, both of Scots and Irish descent. His family initially lived on his maternal grandmother Sheperd's farm in Atlantic, then moved to Andover, Ohio
, where his father became a railroad fireman while studying to become a minister. They moved often, to follow their father's ministerial posts, and Maxwell was frequently sick, missing a great deal of school. He used his time sick in bed to read voraciously, and both his parents and Aunt Emma were storytellers, which contributed to Anderson's love of literature.
During a visit to his grandmother's house in Atlantic, at age 11, he met the first love of his life, Hallie Loomis, a slightly older girl from a wealthier family. His autobiographical tale, Morning, Winter and Night told of rape, incest and sadomasochism on the farm. It was published under a pseudonym, John Nairne Michealson, to prevent offending family. The Andersons bounced between Andover, Ohio
, Richmond Center, Ohio, Townville, Pa.
, Edinboro, Pa.
, McKeesport, Pa.
, New Brighton, Pa.
, Harrisburg, Pa.
, to Jamestown, North Dakota
in 1907, where Anderson attended Jamestown High School, graduating in 1908.
Herald
, and was active in the school's literary and dramatic societies. He obtained a B.A.
in English Literature from the University of North Dakota
in 1911. He became the principal of a high school in Minnewaukan, North Dakota
, also teaching English there, but was fired in 1913 for making pacifist
statements to his students. He then entered Stanford University
, obtaining an M.A.
in English Literature in 1914. He became a high school English teacher in San Francisco: after three years he became chairman of the English department at Whittier College
in 1917. He was fired after a year for public statements supporting Arthur Camp, a jailed student seeking status as a conscientious objector
.
Anderson moved to Palo Alto to write for the San Francisco Evening Bulletin, but was fired for writing an editorial stating that it would be impossible for Germany to pay off their war debt. So he moved to San Francisco to write for the San Francisco Chronicle, but was fired after contracting the Spanish Flu and missing work. Alvin Johnson hired Anderson to move to New York and write about politics for The New Republic in 1918, but he was fired for winning an argument with Editor-in-Chief Herbert David Croly.
Anderson found work atThe New York Globe
, and the New York World
. In 1921, he founded The Measure: A Journal of Poetry, a magazine devoted to verse. He wrote his first play, White Desert, in 1923, which ran only twelve performances, but was well-reviewed by the book reviewer for the New York World
, Laurence Stallings
, who collaborated with him on his next play, What Price Glory?, which was successfully produced in 1924 in New York City
. Afterwards he resigned from the World, launching his career as a dramatist.
. Some of these were adapted as movies, and Anderson wrote the screenplays of other authors' plays and novels — Death Takes a Holiday
, All Quiet on the Western Front
— in addition to books of poetry and essays. His first Broadway hit was the gritty 1924 WW I comedy-drama, What Price Glory, written with Laurence Stallings. The play was notable for its use of profanity, which caused censors to protest. But when the chief censor (Rear Admiral Charles P. Plunkett) was found to have written far more obscene letters to General Chamberlaine, he was discredited. Soldiers really did speak that way.
The only one of his plays that he himself adapted to the screen was Joan of Lorraine
, which became the film Joan of Arc
(1948
) starring Ingrid Bergman
, with a screenplay by Anderson and Andrew Solt
. When Bergman and her director changed much of his dialogue to make Joan "a plaster saint" he called her a "big, dumb, goddamn Swede!" Anderson was awarded the Pulitzer Prize
in 1933 for his political drama Both Your Houses
, and twice received the New York Drama Critics Circle Award, for Winterset
, and High Tor
.
He enjoyed great commercial success with a series of plays set during the reign of the Tudor
family, who ruled England
, Wales
and Ireland
from 1485 until 1603. One play in particular - Anne of the Thousand Days
— the story of Henry VIII
's marriage to Anne Boleyn
— was a hit on the stage in 1948, but did not reach movie screens for 21 years. It opened on Broadway starring Rex Harrison
and Joyce Redman
, and, in 1969 became an Oscar-winning movie with Richard Burton
and Geneviève Bujold
. Margaret Furse
won an Oscar for the film's costume designs.
Another of his Tudor plays, Elizabeth the Queen, was adapted as The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex
(1939
), starring the legendary actress Bette Davis
and Errol Flynn
. Still another of his plays involving Elizabeth I, Mary of Scotland (1936
), was turned into a 1936 film, starring Katharine Hepburn
as Mary, Queen of Scots, Fredric March
as the Earl of Bothwell
, and Florence Eldridge
as Elizabeth. The play had been a hit on Broadway
starring Helen Hayes
in the title role.
His play, Wingless Victory, was written in verse and premiered in 1936 with actress Katharine Cornell
in the lead role. It received mixed reviews.
in 1946, and an honorary Doctor of Humanities degree from the University of North Dakota
in 1958.
Two of Anderson's other historical plays, Valley Forge, about George Washington
's winter there with the Continental Army
), and Barefoot in Athens, concerning the trial of Socrates
, were adapted for television
. Valley Forge was adapted for television on three occasions — in 1950, 1951 and 1975. Anderson wrote book and lyrics for two successful musicals with composer Kurt Weill
. Knickerbocker Holiday
, about the early Dutch settlers of New York, featured Walter Huston
as Peter Stuyvesant
. The show's standout number, September Song
, became a popular standard. So did the title song of Anderson and Weill's Lost In The Stars
, a story of South Africa based on the Alan Paton
novel Cry, The Beloved Country
.
Anderson's long-running 1927 comedy-drama about married life, Saturday's Children, in which Humphrey Bogart
made an early appearance, was filmed three times - in 1929 as a part-talkie
, in 1935 (in almost unrecognizable form) as a B-film Maybe It's Love and once again in 1940 under its original title, starring John Garfield
in one of his few romantic comedies, along with Anne Shirley
and Claude Rains
. The play was also adapted for television in three condensed versions in 1950, 1952 and 1962.
Anderson also adapted the William March
novel The Bad Seed
into his last successful Broadway stage play. He was hired by Alfred Hitchcock
to write the screenplay for Hitchcock's The Wrong Man
(1957
). Hitchcock also contracted with Anderson to write the screenplay for what became Vertigo
(1958
), but Hitchcock rejected his screenplay Darkling, I Listen.
. They had three sons, Quentin
, Alan, and Terence. Anderson then wrote a prophetic play, "Saturday's Children," about a vain, neurotic liar who cheats on her husband. When he catches her, she commits suicide by inhaling gas.
Anderson then began a relationship with a married woman, Gertrude Higger (married name, Mab Maynard, stage name Mab Anthony) starting circa 1930. Anderson split with Haskett, who then died shortly after a car accident and a stroke in 1931. Mab divorced her husband, singer Charles V. Maynard, and moved in with Anderson. She was a significant help with clerical duties, but had expensive tastes and spent Anderson's money freely. Their daughter, Hesper, was born August, 1934. Anderson had left Higger because of her affair with Max's friend, TV producer Jerry Stagg. The combination of losing Anderson, their massive tax debt and losing her home was too much for her. After several unsuccessful attempts, Gertrude committed suicide by breathing car exhaust on March 21, 1953.
Hesper wrote a book, South Mountain Road: A Daughter's Journey of Discovery about her unearthing, only after the suicide, the fact that her parents had never married. Maxwell Anderson married once more, to ABC's TV Celanese Theater Production Assistant, Gilda Hazard, on June 6, 1954. This final marriage was a happy one, lasting until Anderson's 1959 death.
, on February 28, 1959, two days after suffering a stroke
. He was 70 years old. He is buried in Anderson Cemetery near his birthplace in rural northwestern Pennsylvania. The inscription on his tombstone reads:
Children of dust astray among the stars
Children of earth adrift upon the night
What is there in our darkness or our light
To linger in prose or claim a singing breath
Save the curt history of life isled in death
Playwright
A playwright, also called a dramatist, is a person who writes plays.The term is not a variant spelling of "playwrite", but something quite distinct: the word wright is an archaic English term for a craftsman or builder...
, author
Author
An author is broadly defined as "the person who originates or gives existence to anything" and that authorship determines responsibility for what is created. Narrowly defined, an author is the originator of any written work.-Legal significance:...
, poet
Poet
A poet is a person who writes poetry. A poet's work can be literal, meaning that his work is derived from a specific event, or metaphorical, meaning that his work can take on many meanings and forms. Poets have existed since antiquity, in nearly all languages, and have produced works that vary...
, journalist
Journalist
A journalist collects and distributes news and other information. A journalist's work is referred to as journalism.A reporter is a type of journalist who researchs, writes, and reports on information to be presented in mass media, including print media , electronic media , and digital media A...
and lyricist
Lyricist
A lyricist is a songwriter who specializes in lyrics. A singer who writes the lyrics to songs is a singer-lyricist. This differentiates from a singer-composer, who composes the song's melody.-Collaboration:...
.
Early years
Anderson was born in Atlantic, PennsylvaniaAtlantic, Pennsylvania
Atlantic is a census-designated place in Crawford County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 43 at the 2000 census.-Geography:Atlantic is located at ....
, the second of eight children to William Lincoln "Link" Anderson, a Baptist
Baptist
Baptists comprise a group of Christian denominations and churches that subscribe to a doctrine that baptism should be performed only for professing believers , and that it must be done by immersion...
minister, and Charlotte Perrimela Stephenson, both of Scots and Irish descent. His family initially lived on his maternal grandmother Sheperd's farm in Atlantic, then moved to Andover, Ohio
Andover, Ohio
Andover is a village located in the south-east of Ashtabula County, Ohio, United States. The population was 1,269 at the 2000 census.The closest village to the Ohio side of Pymatuning State Park, the settlement supports a regional tourism industry...
, where his father became a railroad fireman while studying to become a minister. They moved often, to follow their father's ministerial posts, and Maxwell was frequently sick, missing a great deal of school. He used his time sick in bed to read voraciously, and both his parents and Aunt Emma were storytellers, which contributed to Anderson's love of literature.
During a visit to his grandmother's house in Atlantic, at age 11, he met the first love of his life, Hallie Loomis, a slightly older girl from a wealthier family. His autobiographical tale, Morning, Winter and Night told of rape, incest and sadomasochism on the farm. It was published under a pseudonym, John Nairne Michealson, to prevent offending family. The Andersons bounced between Andover, Ohio
Andover, Ohio
Andover is a village located in the south-east of Ashtabula County, Ohio, United States. The population was 1,269 at the 2000 census.The closest village to the Ohio side of Pymatuning State Park, the settlement supports a regional tourism industry...
, Richmond Center, Ohio, Townville, Pa.
Townville, Pennsylvania
Townville is a borough in Crawford County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 306 at the 2000 census. It was established in 1831.-Geography:Townville is located at ....
, Edinboro, Pa.
Edinboro, Pennsylvania
Edinboro is a borough in Erie County, Pennsylvania, United States. It is part of the Erie Metropolitan Statistical Area. As home to Edinboro University of Pennsylvania, it is a small college town, as well as a "resort community"...
, McKeesport, Pa.
McKeesport, Pennsylvania
McKeesport is a city in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, in the United States; it is located at the confluence of the Monongahela and Youghiogheny rivers and is part of the Pittsburgh Metro Area. The population was 19,731 at the 2010 census...
, New Brighton, Pa.
New Brighton, Pennsylvania
New Brighton is a borough in Beaver County, Pennsylvania, United States, located along the Beaver River northwest of Pittsburgh. There are deposits of coal and clay in the vicinity. In the past, articles produced here included pottery, bricks, sewer pipe, glass, flour, twine, lead kegs,...
, Harrisburg, Pa.
Harrisburg, Pennsylvania
Harrisburg is the capital of Pennsylvania. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 49,528, making it the ninth largest city in Pennsylvania...
, to Jamestown, North Dakota
Jamestown, North Dakota
As of the census of 2000, there were 15,527 people, 6,505 households, and 3,798 families residing in the city. The population density was 1,246.7 per square mile . There were 6,970 housing units at an average density of 559.6 per square mile...
in 1907, where Anderson attended Jamestown High School, graduating in 1908.
Journalism
As an undergraduate, he waited tables and worked at the night copy desk of the Grand ForksGrand Forks, North Dakota
Grand Forks is the third-largest city in the U.S. state of North Dakota and the county seat of Grand Forks County. According to the 2010 census, the city's population was 52,838, while that of the city and surrounding metropolitan area was 98,461...
Herald
Grand Forks Herald
The Grand Forks Herald is a daily broadsheet newspaper, begun in 1879, published in Grand Forks, North Dakota. It is the primary daily paper for northeast North Dakota and northwest Minnesota. Its average daily circulation is 34,763 on Sundays and 31,524 on weekdays...
, and was active in the school's literary and dramatic societies. He obtained a B.A.
Bachelor of Arts
A Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both...
in English Literature from the University of North Dakota
University of North Dakota
The University of North Dakota is a public university in Grand Forks, North Dakota, USA. Established by the Dakota Territorial Assembly in 1883, six years before the establishment of the state of North Dakota, UND is the oldest and largest university in the state and enrolls over 14,000 students. ...
in 1911. He became the principal of a high school in Minnewaukan, North Dakota
Minnewaukan, North Dakota
As of the census of 2000, there were 318 people, 148 households, and 87 families residing in the city. The population density was 1,157.0 people per square mile . There were 199 housing units at an average density of 724.1 per square mile . The racial makeup of the city was 86.16% White, 9.75%...
, also teaching English there, but was fired in 1913 for making pacifist
Pacifism
Pacifism is the opposition to war and violence. The term "pacifism" was coined by the French peace campaignerÉmile Arnaud and adopted by other peace activists at the tenth Universal Peace Congress inGlasgow in 1901.- Definition :...
statements to his students. He then entered Stanford University
Stanford University
The Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University or Stanford, is a private research university on an campus located near Palo Alto, California. It is situated in the northwestern Santa Clara Valley on the San Francisco Peninsula, approximately northwest of San...
, obtaining an M.A.
Master's degree
A master's is an academic degree granted to individuals who have undergone study demonstrating a mastery or high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice...
in English Literature in 1914. He became a high school English teacher in San Francisco: after three years he became chairman of the English department at Whittier College
Whittier College
Whittier College is a private liberal arts college in Whittier, California. As of January 2009, the college has approximately 1540 enrolled students.-Overview:...
in 1917. He was fired after a year for public statements supporting Arthur Camp, a jailed student seeking status as a conscientious objector
Conscientious objector
A conscientious objector is an "individual who has claimed the right to refuse to perform military service" on the grounds of freedom of thought, conscience, and/or religion....
.
Anderson moved to Palo Alto to write for the San Francisco Evening Bulletin, but was fired for writing an editorial stating that it would be impossible for Germany to pay off their war debt. So he moved to San Francisco to write for the San Francisco Chronicle, but was fired after contracting the Spanish Flu and missing work. Alvin Johnson hired Anderson to move to New York and write about politics for The New Republic in 1918, but he was fired for winning an argument with Editor-in-Chief Herbert David Croly.
Anderson found work atThe New York Globe
The New York Globe
The New York Globe was a daily New York City newspaper published from 1904 to 1923, when it was bought and merged into the New York Sun.-History:...
, and the New York World
New York World
The New York World was a newspaper published in New York City from 1860 until 1931. The paper played a major role in the history of American newspapers...
. In 1921, he founded The Measure: A Journal of Poetry, a magazine devoted to verse. He wrote his first play, White Desert, in 1923, which ran only twelve performances, but was well-reviewed by the book reviewer for the New York World
New York World
The New York World was a newspaper published in New York City from 1860 until 1931. The paper played a major role in the history of American newspapers...
, Laurence Stallings
Laurence Stallings
Laurence Tucker Stallings was an American playwright, screenwriter, lyricist, literary critic, journalist, novelist, and photographer...
, who collaborated with him on his next play, What Price Glory?, which was successfully produced in 1924 in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
. Afterwards he resigned from the World, launching his career as a dramatist.
Dramatist
His plays are in widely varying styles, and Anderson was one of the few modern playwrights to make extensive use of blank verseBlank verse
Blank verse is poetry written in unrhymed iambic pentameter. It has been described as "probably the most common and influential form that English poetry has taken since the sixteenth century" and Paul Fussell has claimed that "about three-quarters of all English poetry is in blank verse."The first...
. Some of these were adapted as movies, and Anderson wrote the screenplays of other authors' plays and novels — Death Takes a Holiday
Death Takes a Holiday
Death Takes a Holiday is a 1934 romantic drama starring Fredric March, Evelyn Venable and Guy Standing, based on the Italian play La Morte in Vacanze by Alberto Casella.-Synopsis:...
, All Quiet on the Western Front
All Quiet on the Western Front
All Quiet on the Western Front is a novel by Erich Maria Remarque, a German veteran of World War I. The book describes the German soldiers' extreme physical and mental stress during the war, and the detachment from civilian life felt by many of these soldiers upon returning home from the front.The...
— in addition to books of poetry and essays. His first Broadway hit was the gritty 1924 WW I comedy-drama, What Price Glory, written with Laurence Stallings. The play was notable for its use of profanity, which caused censors to protest. But when the chief censor (Rear Admiral Charles P. Plunkett) was found to have written far more obscene letters to General Chamberlaine, he was discredited. Soldiers really did speak that way.
The only one of his plays that he himself adapted to the screen was Joan of Lorraine
Joan of Lorraine
Joan of Lorraine is a 1946 play-within-a-play by Maxwell Anderson. It is about an acting company who stages a dramatization of the story of Joan of Arc and the effect that the story has on them. As in the musical Man of La Mancha, most of the actors in the drama play two or more roles...
, which became the film Joan of Arc
Joan of Arc (1948 film)
Joan of Arc is a 1948 Technicolor film directed by Victor Fleming; starring Ingrid Bergman as the French religious icon and war heroine. It was produced by Walter Wanger. It is based on Maxwell Anderson's successful Broadway play Joan of Lorraine, which also starred Bergman, and was adapted for the...
(1948
1948 in film
The year 1948 in film involved some significant events.-Events:* Laurence Olivier's Hamlet becomes the first British film to win the American Academy Award for Best Picture.-Top grossing films : After theatrical re-issue- Awards :...
) starring Ingrid Bergman
Ingrid Bergman
Ingrid Bergman was a Swedish actress who starred in a variety of European and American films. She won three Academy Awards, two Emmy Awards, and the Tony Award for Best Actress. She is ranked as the fourth greatest female star of American cinema of all time by the American Film Institute...
, with a screenplay by Anderson and Andrew Solt
Andrew Solt
Andrew Solt is a producer, director, writer and documentary filmmaker. He has done numerous television specials and series for both broadcast and cable television and also movies. Solt owns the rights to the The Ed Sullivan Show library and has produced over 100 hours of new programming from the...
. When Bergman and her director changed much of his dialogue to make Joan "a plaster saint" he called her a "big, dumb, goddamn Swede!" Anderson was awarded the Pulitzer Prize
Pulitzer Prize
The Pulitzer Prize is a U.S. award for achievements in newspaper and online journalism, literature and musical composition. It was established by American publisher Joseph Pulitzer and is administered by Columbia University in New York City...
in 1933 for his political drama Both Your Houses
Both Your Houses
Both Your Houses is a 1933 play written by American playwright Maxwell Anderson. Produced by the Theatre Guild, it opened at the Royale Theatre on March 5, 1933 and ran 72 performances. It was awarded the 1933 Pulitzer Prize for Drama....
, and twice received the New York Drama Critics Circle Award, for Winterset
Winterset (play)
Winterset is a play by Maxwell Anderson.A verse drama written largely in poetic form, the tragedy deals indirectly with the famous Sacco-Vanzetti case, in which two Italian immigrants with radical political beliefs were executed...
, and High Tor
High Tor
High Tor is a 1936 play by Maxwell Anderson. Twenty years after the original production, Anderson adapted it into a television musical with Arthur Schwartz.-Play:...
.
He enjoyed great commercial success with a series of plays set during the reign of the Tudor
Tudor dynasty
The Tudor dynasty or House of Tudor was a European royal house of Welsh origin that ruled the Kingdom of England and its realms, including the Lordship of Ireland, later the Kingdom of Ireland, from 1485 until 1603. Its first monarch was Henry Tudor, a descendant through his mother of a legitimised...
family, who ruled England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, Wales
Wales
Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...
and Ireland
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
from 1485 until 1603. One play in particular - Anne of the Thousand Days
Anne of the Thousand Days
Anne of the Thousand Days is a 1969 costume drama made by Hal Wallis Productions and distributed by Universal Pictures. It was directed by Charles Jarrott and produced by Hal B. Wallis. The film tells the story of Anne Boleyn...
— the story of Henry VIII
Henry VIII of England
Henry VIII was King of England from 21 April 1509 until his death. He was Lord, and later King, of Ireland, as well as continuing the nominal claim by the English monarchs to the Kingdom of France...
's marriage to Anne Boleyn
Anne Boleyn
Anne Boleyn ;c.1501/1507 – 19 May 1536) was Queen of England from 1533 to 1536 as the second wife of Henry VIII of England and Marquess of Pembroke in her own right. Henry's marriage to Anne, and her subsequent execution, made her a key figure in the political and religious upheaval that was the...
— was a hit on the stage in 1948, but did not reach movie screens for 21 years. It opened on Broadway starring Rex Harrison
Rex Harrison
Sir Reginald Carey “Rex” Harrison was an English actor of stage and screen. Harrison won an Academy Award and two Tony Awards.-Youth and stage career:...
and Joyce Redman
Joyce Redman
-Biography:She was born in County Mayo, Ireland, to an Anglo-Irish family. She was educated by a private governess in Ireland, along with her three sisters. She was trained in acting at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art....
, and, in 1969 became an Oscar-winning movie with Richard Burton
Richard Burton
Richard Burton, CBE was a Welsh actor. He was nominated seven times for an Academy Award, six of which were for Best Actor in a Leading Role , and was a recipient of BAFTA, Golden Globe and Tony Awards for Best Actor. Although never trained as an actor, Burton was, at one time, the highest-paid...
and Geneviève Bujold
Geneviève Bujold
Geneviève Bujold is a Canadian actress best known for her portrayal of Anne Boleyn in the 1969 film Anne of the Thousand Days, for which she won a Golden Globe Award for best actress and was nominated for an Academy Award....
. Margaret Furse
Margaret Furse
Margaret Furse was an Academy Award-winning English costume designer.-Personal life:She was born Alice Margaret Watts on 18 February 1911 to Punch magazine illustrator Arthur G. Watts and his wife, Phyllis Gordon Watts. She married art director Roger Kemble Furse on 4 December 1936 at Chelsea Old...
won an Oscar for the film's costume designs.
Another of his Tudor plays, Elizabeth the Queen, was adapted as The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex
The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex
The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex is a 1939 historical romantic drama film. It is based on the relationship between Queen Elizabeth I, portrayed by Bette Davis, and Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex, played by Errol Flynn...
(1939
1939 in film
The year 1939 in motion pictures can be justified as being called the most outstanding one ever, when it comes to the high quality and high attendance at the large set of the best films that premiered in the year .- Events :Motion picture historians and film often rate...
), starring the legendary actress Bette Davis
Bette Davis
Ruth Elizabeth "Bette" Davis was an American actress of film, television and theater. Noted for her willingness to play unsympathetic characters, she was highly regarded for her performances in a range of film genres, from contemporary crime melodramas to historical and period films and occasional...
and Errol Flynn
Errol Flynn
Errol Leslie Flynn was an Australian-born actor. He was known for his romantic swashbuckler roles in Hollywood films, being a legend and his flamboyant lifestyle.-Early life:...
. Still another of his plays involving Elizabeth I, Mary of Scotland (1936
1936 in film
The year 1936 in film involved some significant events.-Events:*May 29 - Fritz Lang's first Hollywood film Fury, starring Spencer Tracy and Bruce Cabot, is released.*November 6 - first Porky Pig animated cartoon...
), was turned into a 1936 film, starring Katharine Hepburn
Katharine Hepburn
Katharine Houghton Hepburn was an American actress of film, stage, and television. In a career that spanned 62 years as a leading lady, she was best known for playing strong-willed, sophisticated women in both dramas and comedies...
as Mary, Queen of Scots, Fredric March
Fredric March
Fredric March was an American stage and film actor. He won the Academy Award for Best Actor in 1932 for Dr. Jekyll and Mr...
as the Earl of Bothwell
Earl of Bothwell
The title Earl of Bothwell has been created twice in the Peerage of Scotland. It was first created for Patrick Hepburn in 1488, and was forfeited in 1567. It was then created for Francis Stewart in 1587...
, and Florence Eldridge
Florence Eldridge
Florence Eldridge was an American actress.-Personal life:...
as Elizabeth. The play had been a hit on Broadway
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
starring Helen Hayes
Helen Hayes
Helen Hayes Brown was an American actress whose career spanned almost 70 years. She eventually garnered the nickname "First Lady of the American Theatre" and was one of twelve people who have won an Emmy, a Grammy, an Oscar and a Tony Award...
in the title role.
His play, Wingless Victory, was written in verse and premiered in 1936 with actress Katharine Cornell
Katharine Cornell
Katharine Cornell was an American stage actress, writer, theater owner and producer. She was born to American parents and raised in Buffalo, New York.Cornell is known as the greatest American stage actress of the 20th century...
in the lead role. It received mixed reviews.
Adaptations and awards
Honorary awards include the Gold Medal in Drama from the National Institute of Arts and Letters in 1954, an honorary Doctor of Literature degree from Columbia UniversityColumbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
in 1946, and an honorary Doctor of Humanities degree from the University of North Dakota
University of North Dakota
The University of North Dakota is a public university in Grand Forks, North Dakota, USA. Established by the Dakota Territorial Assembly in 1883, six years before the establishment of the state of North Dakota, UND is the oldest and largest university in the state and enrolls over 14,000 students. ...
in 1958.
Two of Anderson's other historical plays, Valley Forge, about George Washington
George Washington
George Washington was the dominant military and political leader of the new United States of America from 1775 to 1799. He led the American victory over Great Britain in the American Revolutionary War as commander-in-chief of the Continental Army from 1775 to 1783, and presided over the writing of...
's winter there with the Continental Army
Continental Army
The Continental Army was formed after the outbreak of the American Revolutionary War by the colonies that became the United States of America. Established by a resolution of the Continental Congress on June 14, 1775, it was created to coordinate the military efforts of the Thirteen Colonies in...
), and Barefoot in Athens, concerning the trial of Socrates
Trial of Socrates
The Trial of Socrates refers to the trial and the subsequent execution of the classical Athenian philosopher Socrates in 399 BC. Socrates was tried on the basis of two notoriously ambiguous charges: corrupting the youth and impiety...
, were adapted for television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
. Valley Forge was adapted for television on three occasions — in 1950, 1951 and 1975. Anderson wrote book and lyrics for two successful musicals with composer Kurt Weill
Kurt Weill
Kurt Julian Weill was a German-Jewish composer, active from the 1920s, and in his later years in the United States. He was a leading composer for the stage who was best known for his fruitful collaborations with Bertolt Brecht...
. Knickerbocker Holiday
Knickerbocker Holiday
Knickerbocker Holiday is a musical written by Kurt Weill and Maxwell Anderson ; it was directed by Joshua Logan. Among the songs introduced was the "September Song", now considered a pop standard.- History :...
, about the early Dutch settlers of New York, featured Walter Huston
Walter Huston
Walter Thomas Huston was a Canadian-born American actor. He was the father of actor and director John Huston and the grandfather of actress Anjelica Huston and actor Danny Huston.-Life and career:...
as Peter Stuyvesant
Peter Stuyvesant
Peter Stuyvesant , served as the last Dutch Director-General of the colony of New Netherland from 1647 until it was ceded provisionally to the English in 1664, after which it was renamed New York...
. The show's standout number, September Song
September Song
"September Song" is an American pop standard composed by Kurt Weill, with lyrics by Maxwell Anderson, introduced by Walter Huston in the 1938 Broadway musical Knickerbocker Holiday. It has since been recorded by numerous singers and instrumentalists...
, became a popular standard. So did the title song of Anderson and Weill's Lost In The Stars
Lost in the Stars
Lost in the Stars is a musical with book and lyrics by Maxwell Anderson and music by Kurt Weill, based on the novel Cry, the Beloved Country by Alan Paton...
, a story of South Africa based on the Alan Paton
Alan Paton
Alan Stewart Paton was a South African author and anti-apartheid activist.-Family:Paton was born in Pietermaritzburg, Natal Province , the son of a minor civil servant. After attending Maritzburg College, he earned a Bachelor of Science degree at the University of Natal in his hometown, followed...
novel Cry, The Beloved Country
Cry, The Beloved Country
Cry, the Beloved Country is a novel by South African author Alan Paton. It was first published in New York City in 1948 by Charles Scribner's Sons and in London by Jonathan Cape; noted American publisher Bennett Cerf remarked at that year's meeting of the American Booksellers Association that there...
.
Anderson's long-running 1927 comedy-drama about married life, Saturday's Children, in which Humphrey Bogart
Humphrey Bogart
Humphrey DeForest Bogart was an American actor. He is widely regarded as a cultural icon.The American Film Institute ranked Bogart as the greatest male star in the history of American cinema....
made an early appearance, was filmed three times - in 1929 as a part-talkie
Part-talkie
A part-talkie is a partly, and most often primarily, silent film which includes one or more synchronous sound sequences with audible dialog or singing. During the silent portions lines of dialog are presented as "titles" -- printed text briefly filling the screen -- and the soundtrack is used only...
, in 1935 (in almost unrecognizable form) as a B-film Maybe It's Love and once again in 1940 under its original title, starring John Garfield
John Garfield
John Garfield was an American actor adept at playing brooding, rebellious, working-class character roles. He grew up in poverty in Depression-era New York City and in the early 1930s became an important member of the Group Theater. In 1937 he moved to Hollywood, eventually becoming one of Warner...
in one of his few romantic comedies, along with Anne Shirley
Anne Shirley
Anne Shirley is a fictional character introduced in the 1908 novel Anne of Green Gables by Lucy Maud Montgomery. Montgomery wrote in her journal that the idea for Anne's story came from relatives who, planning to adopt an orphaned boy, received a girl instead...
and Claude Rains
Claude Rains
Claude Rains was an English stage and film actor whose career spanned 66 years. He was known for many roles in Hollywood films, among them the title role in The Invisible Man , a corrupt senator in Mr. Smith Goes to Washington , Mr...
. The play was also adapted for television in three condensed versions in 1950, 1952 and 1962.
Anderson also adapted the William March
William March
William March was an American author and a highly decorated US Marine. The author of six novels and four short-story collections, March was praised by critics and heralded as "the unrecognized genius of our time", without attaining popular appeal until after his death.March grew up in rural...
novel The Bad Seed
The Bad Seed
The Bad Seed is a 1954 novel by William March, nominated for the 1966 National Book Award for Fiction. It was the last major work written by March, and, although published in his lifetime, its enormous critical and commercial success was largely realized after his death, one month after publication...
into his last successful Broadway stage play. He was hired by Alfred Hitchcock
Alfred Hitchcock
Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock, KBE was a British film director and producer. He pioneered many techniques in the suspense and psychological thriller genres. After a successful career in British cinema in both silent films and early talkies, Hitchcock moved to Hollywood...
to write the screenplay for Hitchcock's The Wrong Man
The Wrong Man
The Wrong Man is a 1956 film by Alfred Hitchcock which stars Henry Fonda and Vera Miles. The film is based on a true story of an innocent man charged for a crime he did not commit...
(1957
1957 in film
The year 1957 in film involved some significant events.-Events:* October 21 - The movie Jailhouse Rock, starring Elvis Presley, opens.-Top grossing films : After theatrical re-issue-Awards:...
). Hitchcock also contracted with Anderson to write the screenplay for what became Vertigo
Vertigo (film)
Vertigo is a 1958 psychological thriller film directed by Alfred Hitchcock and starring James Stewart, Kim Novak, and Barbara Bel Geddes. The screenplay was written by Alec Coppel and Samuel A...
(1958
1958 in film
The year 1958 in film involved some significant events.-Events:* February 16- "In the Money" by William Beaudine is released on this date. It would be the last installment of The Bowery Boys series which began back in 1946....
), but Hitchcock rejected his screenplay Darkling, I Listen.
Personal life
Anderson married Margaret Haskett, a fellow classmate, on August 1, 1911 in Bottineau, North DakotaBottineau, North Dakota
As of the census of 2000, there were 2,336 people, 979 households, and 550 families residing in the city. The population density was 2,230.0 people per square mile . There were 1,114 housing units at an average density of 1,063.4 per square mile...
. They had three sons, Quentin
Quentin Anderson
Quentin Anderson was an American literary critic and cultural historian at Columbia University. His research focused on 19th-century American authors, especially Henry James, Ralph Waldo Emerson, and Walt Whitman, and their attempts to define American identity as both connected to and...
, Alan, and Terence. Anderson then wrote a prophetic play, "Saturday's Children," about a vain, neurotic liar who cheats on her husband. When he catches her, she commits suicide by inhaling gas.
Anderson then began a relationship with a married woman, Gertrude Higger (married name, Mab Maynard, stage name Mab Anthony) starting circa 1930. Anderson split with Haskett, who then died shortly after a car accident and a stroke in 1931. Mab divorced her husband, singer Charles V. Maynard, and moved in with Anderson. She was a significant help with clerical duties, but had expensive tastes and spent Anderson's money freely. Their daughter, Hesper, was born August, 1934. Anderson had left Higger because of her affair with Max's friend, TV producer Jerry Stagg. The combination of losing Anderson, their massive tax debt and losing her home was too much for her. After several unsuccessful attempts, Gertrude committed suicide by breathing car exhaust on March 21, 1953.
Hesper wrote a book, South Mountain Road: A Daughter's Journey of Discovery about her unearthing, only after the suicide, the fact that her parents had never married. Maxwell Anderson married once more, to ABC's TV Celanese Theater Production Assistant, Gilda Hazard, on June 6, 1954. This final marriage was a happy one, lasting until Anderson's 1959 death.
Death
Maxwell Anderson died in Stamford, ConnecticutStamford, Connecticut
Stamford is a city in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. According to the 2010 census, the population of the city is 122,643, making it the fourth largest city in the state and the eighth largest city in New England...
, on February 28, 1959, two days after suffering a stroke
CVA
The abbreviation CVA can refer to:Schools* Carrabassett Valley Academy, a ski and snowboard academy based in Carrabassett Valley, Maine* College of Visual Arts, a four-year private college in Minnesota...
. He was 70 years old. He is buried in Anderson Cemetery near his birthplace in rural northwestern Pennsylvania. The inscription on his tombstone reads:
Children of dust astray among the stars
Children of earth adrift upon the night
What is there in our darkness or our light
To linger in prose or claim a singing breath
Save the curt history of life isled in death
Stage productions
- White Desert - 1923Category:category White Desert
- What Price GloryWhat Price Glory? (play)What Price Glory?, a comedy-drama written by Maxwell Anderson and critic/veteran Laurence Stallings was Anderson's first commercial success, with a long run on Broadway.The play depicted the rivalry between two U.S...
- 1924 - a war drama - First Flight - 1925 - (with Laurence StallingsLaurence StallingsLaurence Tucker Stallings was an American playwright, screenwriter, lyricist, literary critic, journalist, novelist, and photographer...
) - Outside Looking In (play) - 1925
- Saturday's ChildrenSaturday's ChildrenSaturday's Children is a 1940 American drama film directed by Vincent Sherman and starring John Garfield, Anne Shirley, and Claude Rains. It is a third-time remake of the original Maxwell Anderson play.-Plot:...
- 1927 - Gods of the Lightning - 1929 (with Harold Hickerson)
- Gypsy - 1928 -
- Elizabeth the Queen - 1930 - a historical drama in blank verse
- Night Over Taos - 1932
- Both Your HousesBoth Your HousesBoth Your Houses is a 1933 play written by American playwright Maxwell Anderson. Produced by the Theatre Guild, it opened at the Royale Theatre on March 5, 1933 and ran 72 performances. It was awarded the 1933 Pulitzer Prize for Drama....
- 1933—Pulitzer Prize for Drama - Mary of Scotland - 1933 - a historical drama in blank verse
- Valley Forge - 1934
- WintersetWinterset (play)Winterset is a play by Maxwell Anderson.A verse drama written largely in poetic form, the tragedy deals indirectly with the famous Sacco-Vanzetti case, in which two Italian immigrants with radical political beliefs were executed...
- 1935 - New York Drama Critics Circle Award - The Masque of Kings - 1936
- The Wingless Victory - 1936
- Star-Wagon - 1937
- High TorHigh TorHigh Tor is a 1936 play by Maxwell Anderson. Twenty years after the original production, Anderson adapted it into a television musical with Arthur Schwartz.-Play:...
- 1937 New York Drama Critics Circle Award - The Feast of Ortolans - 1937 - one-act play
- Knickerbocker HolidayKnickerbocker HolidayKnickerbocker Holiday is a musical written by Kurt Weill and Maxwell Anderson ; it was directed by Joshua Logan. Among the songs introduced was the "September Song", now considered a pop standard.- History :...
- 1938 - book and lyrics
- Second Overture - 1938 - one-act play
- Key LargoKey Largo (play)Key Largo was a play written in blank verse by Maxwell Anderson that became the basis for the 1948 film by the same name.-Plot:A deserter of the Spanish Civil War played by Paul Muni redeems himself in death by defending the family of a true war hero against some bandits on the tiny island of Key...
- 1939 - Journey to JerusalemJourney to JerusalemJourney to Jerusalem is a 1940 play by Maxwell Anderson about a trip made to Jerusalem by the Holy Family when Christ was twelve years old.In the play, Anderson parallels ancient Biblical events with the rise of Adolf Hitler, embodied in the play by Herod Antipas. Jesus slowly realizes from a...
- 1940 - Candle in the Wind - 1941
- The Miracle of the Danube - 1941 - one-act play
- The Eve of St. Mark - 1942
- Your Navy - 1942 - one-act play
- Storm Operation - 1944
- Letter to Jackie - 1944 - one-act play
- Truckline CaféTruckline CafeTruckline Cafe was the title of a 1946 Broadway play written by Maxwell Anderson, directed by Harold Clurman, produced by Elia Kazan, and starring Marlon Brando and Karl Malden...
- 1946 - Joan of Lorraine (partially written in blank verse) - 1946
- Anne of the Thousand DaysAnne of the Thousand DaysAnne of the Thousand Days is a 1969 costume drama made by Hal Wallis Productions and distributed by Universal Pictures. It was directed by Charles Jarrott and produced by Hal B. Wallis. The film tells the story of Anne Boleyn...
- 1948 - a historical drama in blank verse - Lost in the StarsLost in the StarsLost in the Stars is a musical with book and lyrics by Maxwell Anderson and music by Kurt Weill, based on the novel Cry, the Beloved Country by Alan Paton...
- 1949 - book and lyrics - Barefoot in Athens - 1951
- The Bad SeedThe Bad Seed (play)The Bad Seed was a successful and long-running Broadway play by Maxwell Anderson adapted from the novel of that name by William March, and was in turn adapted by John Lee Mahin into an Academy Award-nominated film of the same name directed by Mervyn Leroy. Staged by Reginald Denham, it opened...
- 1954 - High TorHigh TorHigh Tor is a 1936 play by Maxwell Anderson. Twenty years after the original production, Anderson adapted it into a television musical with Arthur Schwartz.-Play:...
- 1956 (TV score) - The Day the Money Stopped - 1958 - (with Brendan GillBrendan GillBrendan Gill wrote for The New Yorker for more than 60 years. He also contributed film criticism for Film Comment and wrote a popular book about his time at the New Yorker magazine.-Biography:...
) - The Golden Six - 1958
Filmography
- What Price Glory - 1926 - film
- Saturday's ChildrenSaturday's ChildrenSaturday's Children is a 1940 American drama film directed by Vincent Sherman and starring John Garfield, Anne Shirley, and Claude Rains. It is a third-time remake of the original Maxwell Anderson play.-Plot:...
- 1929 - play - The Cock-Eyed WorldThe Cock-Eyed WorldThe Cock-Eyed World is a musical film made by Fox Film Corporation, directed and written Raoul Walsh, based on the Flagg and Quirt story by Maxwell Anderson, Tom Barry, Wilson Mizner and Laurence Stallings...
- 1929 - story - All Quiet on the Western FrontAll Quiet on the Western FrontAll Quiet on the Western Front is a novel by Erich Maria Remarque, a German veteran of World War I. The book describes the German soldiers' extreme physical and mental stress during the war, and the detachment from civilian life felt by many of these soldiers upon returning home from the front.The...
- 1930 - adaptation & dialogue - The GuardsmanThe GuardsmanThe Guardsman is a 1931 film based on the play Testőr by Ferenc Molnár. It stars Alfred Lunt, Lynn Fontanne, Roland Young and ZaSu Pitts...
- 1931 - one scene from Elizabeth the Queen is featured, just after the opening credits of the film - RainRain (1932 film)Rain is a 1932 South Seas drama film directed by Lewis Milestone with portions filmed at Santa Catalina Island, California. The film stars Joan Crawford as prostitute Sadie Thompson and Walter Huston as a conflicted missionary who wants to reform Sadie, but whose own morals start decaying...
- 1932 - adaptation - Washington Merry-Go-Round - 1932 - story
- Death Takes a HolidayDeath Takes a HolidayDeath Takes a Holiday is a 1934 romantic drama starring Fredric March, Evelyn Venable and Guy Standing, based on the Italian play La Morte in Vacanze by Alberto Casella.-Synopsis:...
- 1934 (screenplay only; the play was written in Italian by Alberto Casella and translated into English by Walter Ferris) - We Live AgainWe Live AgainWe Live Again is a 1934 film adaptation of Leo Tolstoy's 1899 novel Resurrection , starring Anna Sten and Frederic March...
- 1934 - adaptation, from TolstoyTolstoyTolstoy, or Tolstoi is a prominent family of Russian nobility, descending from Andrey Kharitonovich Tolstoy who served under Vasily II of Moscow...
's ResurrectionResurrectionResurrection refers to the literal coming back to life of the biologically dead. It is used both with respect to particular individuals or the belief in a General Resurrection of the dead at the end of the world. The General Resurrection is featured prominently in Jewish, Christian, and Muslim... - The Lives of a Bengal LancerThe Lives of a Bengal LancerThe Lives of a Bengal Lancer is a 1935 American adventure film loosely adapted from the 1930 book of the same name by Francis Yeats-Brown. The plot of the movie, which bears little resemblance to Yeats-Brown's memoir, concerns British soldiers defending the borders of India against rebellious...
- 1935 - uncredited contributing writer - Maybe It's Love - 1935 - play Saturday's Children
- So Red the RoseSo Red the RoseSo Red the Rose is the platinum-selling album by the Duran Duran-spinoff group Arcadia, which was released in 1985 — the only album the band ever released...
- 1935 - screenplay - Mary of ScotlandMary of Scotland (film)Mary of Scotland is a 1936 RKO film starring Katharine Hepburn as the 16th century ruler, Mary, Queen of Scots. Directed by John Ford, it is an adaptation of the 1933 Maxwell Anderson play by Dudley Nichols. The play starred Helen Hayes as Mary...
- 1936 - play - WintersetWinterset (film)Winterset is a 1936 crime film directed by Alfred Santell, based on the play by Maxwell Anderson.The film greatly changes the ending of the play, in which the lovers Mio and Miriamne are shot to death by gangsters...
- 1936 - play - The Private Lives of Elizabeth and EssexThe Private Lives of Elizabeth and EssexThe Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex is a 1939 historical romantic drama film. It is based on the relationship between Queen Elizabeth I, portrayed by Bette Davis, and Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex, played by Errol Flynn...
- 1939 - play - Saturday's ChildrenSaturday's ChildrenSaturday's Children is a 1940 American drama film directed by Vincent Sherman and starring John Garfield, Anne Shirley, and Claude Rains. It is a third-time remake of the original Maxwell Anderson play.-Plot:...
- 1940 - play - Knickerbocker HolidayKnickerbocker HolidayKnickerbocker Holiday is a musical written by Kurt Weill and Maxwell Anderson ; it was directed by Joshua Logan. Among the songs introduced was the "September Song", now considered a pop standard.- History :...
- 1944 - play - The Eve of St. Mark - 1944 - play
- WintersetWinterset (film)Winterset is a 1936 crime film directed by Alfred Santell, based on the play by Maxwell Anderson.The film greatly changes the ending of the play, in which the lovers Mio and Miriamne are shot to death by gangsters...
- 1945 - TV - play - A la sombra del puente - 1946 - play
- Key LargoKey Largo (film)Key Largo is a 1948 film noir directed by John Huston and starring Humphrey Bogart, Edward G. Robinson, Lauren Bacall, Lionel Barrymore, and Claire Trevor...
- 1948 - play (almost completely rewritten for the screen by John HustonJohn HustonJohn Marcellus Huston was an American film director, screenwriter and actor. He wrote most of the 37 feature films he directed, many of which are today considered classics: The Maltese Falcon , The Treasure of the Sierra Madre , Key Largo , The Asphalt Jungle , The African Queen , Moulin Rouge...
and Richard BrooksRichard BrooksRichard Brooks was an American screenwriter, film director, novelist and occasional film producer.-Early life and career:...
) - Joan of ArcJoan of Arc (1948 film)Joan of Arc is a 1948 Technicolor film directed by Victor Fleming; starring Ingrid Bergman as the French religious icon and war heroine. It was produced by Walter Wanger. It is based on Maxwell Anderson's successful Broadway play Joan of Lorraine, which also starred Bergman, and was adapted for the...
- 1948 - play Joan of LorraineJoan of LorraineJoan of Lorraine is a 1946 play-within-a-play by Maxwell Anderson. It is about an acting company who stages a dramatization of the story of Joan of Arc and the effect that the story has on them. As in the musical Man of La Mancha, most of the actors in the drama play two or more roles...
- screenplay - Pulitzer Prize PlayhousePulitzer Prize PlayhouseThe Pulitzer Prize Playhouse is an American television anthology drama series which offered adaptations of Pulitzer Prize winning plays, stories and novels. The distinguished journalist Elmer Davis was the host and narrator of this 1950-52 ABC series....
- 1950 TV Series - play - four episodes - Celanese Theatre - 1951 TV Series - play - two episodes
- What Price Glory?What Price Glory? (1952 film)What Price Glory is a 1952 World War I film based on a 1924 play by Maxwell Anderson and Laurence Stallings, though it used virtually none of Anderson's dialogue. Originally intended as a musical, it was filmed as a straight comedy, directed by John Ford and released by 20th Century Fox on 22...
- 1952 - play - The Alcoa HourThe Alcoa HourThe Alcoa Hour is a live anthology television series sponsored by Alcoa and telecast in the United States from 1955 to 1957. The series was seen Sundays on NBC at 9pm.-Overview:...
- 1955 TV Series - play - episode "Key Largo" - The Bad SeedThe Bad Seed (film)The Bad Seed is a 1956 American horror-thrillerfilm directed by Mervyn LeRoy. It is based upon a play by Maxwell Anderson, which in turn is based upon William March's 1954 novel The Bad Seed. The play was adapted by John Lee Mahin for the screenplay of the film...
- 1956 - play - The Wrong ManThe Wrong ManThe Wrong Man is a 1956 film by Alfred Hitchcock which stars Henry Fonda and Vera Miles. The film is based on a true story of an innocent man charged for a crime he did not commit...
- 1956 - novel The True Story of Christopher Emmanuel Balestrero - Never Steal Anything SmallNever Steal Anything SmallNever Steal Anything Small is a musical comedy film starring James Cagney, Shirley Jones, Roger Smith, Cara Williams, Nehemiah Persoff, Royal Dano, and Horace McMahon. The film was based on The Devil's Hornpipe by Maxwell Anderson and released by Universal Pictures.-Production details:Filmed in...
- 1959 - play The Devil's Hornpipe - Ben-HurBen-Hur (1959 film)Ben-Hur is a 1959 American epic film directed by William Wyler and starring Charlton Heston in the title role, the third film adaptation of Lew Wallace's 1880 novel Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ. The screenplay was written by Karl Tunberg, Gore Vidal, and Christopher Fry. The score was composed by...
- 1959 - uncredited - Barefoot in Athens - 1966 - TV - play
- The Star Wagon - 1967 - TV - play
- Elizabeth the Queen - 1968 - TV - play
- Anne of the Thousand DaysAnne of the Thousand DaysAnne of the Thousand Days is a 1969 costume drama made by Hal Wallis Productions and distributed by Universal Pictures. It was directed by Charles Jarrott and produced by Hal B. Wallis. The film tells the story of Anne Boleyn...
- 1969 - play - Valley Forge - 1975 - TV - play
- Lost in the StarsLost in the StarsLost in the Stars is a musical with book and lyrics by Maxwell Anderson and music by Kurt Weill, based on the novel Cry, the Beloved Country by Alan Paton...
- 1974 - play - The Bad SeedThe Bad SeedThe Bad Seed is a 1954 novel by William March, nominated for the 1966 National Book Award for Fiction. It was the last major work written by March, and, although published in his lifetime, its enormous critical and commercial success was largely realized after his death, one month after publication...
- 1985 - TV - play - Meet Joe BlackMeet Joe BlackMeet Joe Black is a 1998 American fantasy romance film produced by Universal Studios, directed by Martin Brest and starring Brad Pitt, Anthony Hopkins and Claire Forlani, loosely based on the 1934 film Death Takes a Holiday...
(1998) (earlier screenplay) (inspiration)
Lyrics
- September SongSeptember Song"September Song" is an American pop standard composed by Kurt Weill, with lyrics by Maxwell Anderson, introduced by Walter Huston in the 1938 Broadway musical Knickerbocker Holiday. It has since been recorded by numerous singers and instrumentalists...
(from Knickerbocker Holiday), by far his most famous song lyric - Lost in the Stars (from Lost in the Stars)
- Cry, The Beloved Country (from Lost in the Stars)
- When You're in Love
- There's Nowhere to Go but Up
- It Never Was You
- Stay Well
- Trouble Man (from Lost in the Stars)
- Thousands of Miles