Paul Osborn was an American playwright

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...

 and screenwriter

Screenwriter

Screenwriters or scriptwriters or scenario writers are people who write/create the short or feature-length screenplays from which mass media such as films, television programs, Comics or video games are based.-Profession:...

 best known for writing the screen adaptation of East of Eden as well as South Pacific

South Pacific (film)

South Pacific is a 1958 musical romance film adaptation of the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical South Pacific, and based on James A. Michener's Tales of the South Pacific...

, The Yearling, The World of Suzie Wong

The World of Suzie Wong (film)

The World of Suzie Wong is a 1960 British-American romantic drama film directed by Richard Quine. The screenplay by John Patrick was adapted from the stage play by Paul Osborn, which was based on the novel of the same title by Richard Mason...

and Sayonara

Sayonara

Sayonara is a 1957 color American film starring Marlon Brando. It tells the story of an American Air Force flier who was an "ace" fighter pilot during the Korean War....

.

Career

Born and raised in Evansville, Indiana

Evansville, Indiana

Evansville is the third-largest city in the U.S. state of Indiana and the largest city in Southern Indiana. As of the 2010 census, the city had a total population of 117,429. It is the county seat of Vanderburgh County and the regional hub for both Southwestern Indiana and the...

, USA, Osborn went on to study at Yale University

Yale University

Yale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...

. He made his debut in 1928 with the play Hotbed

Hotbed

Hotbed can mean:* Hotbed , a pile of decaying organic matter warmer than its surrounding due to the heat given off by the metabolism of the microorganisms in the decomposing pile...

. In 1930, he found success on Broadway with The Vinegar Tree. His 1939 original comedic play, Morning's at Seven

Morning's at Seven

Morning's at Seven is a play by Paul Osborn.Its plot focuses on four aging sisters living in a small Midwestern town in 1938, and it deals with ramifications within the family when two of them begin to question their lives and decide to make some changes before it’s too late.The original Broadway...

became one of Osborn's most enduring original works. It has been presented on television, but never filmed. Revived in 1980, it would be hailed by Harold Clurman

Harold Clurman

Harold Edgar Clurman was a visionary American theatre director and drama critic, "one of the most influential in the United States". He was most notable as one of the three founders of the New York City's Group Theatre...

 as "one of the best American comedies."

Another popular, more frequently revived Osborn play is the 1938 On Borrowed Time

On Borrowed Time

On Borrowed Time is a 1939 film about the role death plays in life, and how humanity cannot live without it. It is adapted from Paul Osborn's 1938 Broadway hit play. The play, based on a novel by Lawrence Edward Watkin, has been revived twice on Broadway since its original run.Set in small-town...

, which was made into an MGM film starring Lionel Barrymore

Lionel Barrymore

Lionel Barrymore was an American actor of stage, screen and radio. He won an Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance in A Free Soul...

, Cedric Hardwicke

Cedric Hardwicke

Sir Cedric Webster Hardwicke was a noted English stage and film actor whose career spanned nearly fifty years...

 and Bobs Watson

Bobs Watson

Robert S. "Bobs" Watson was an American actor and a Methodist minister. He died of prostate cancer in 1999 at Laguna Beach, California.-Biography:...

.

External links