Herb Gardner
Herb Gardner (Herbert George Gardner, born December 28, 1934 in Brooklyn, † 25 September 2003 in New York) was an American cartoonist, playwright and screenwriter.
Life
Herb Gardner began his career as a cartoonist in the 1950s. His comic strips The Nebbishes appeared at the height of his career as a draftsman in the newspaper The Chicago Tribune and in 60 to 75 other publications. They were also extremely popular as posters and postcards before Herb Gardner 1960 finally turned to writing.
In 1958, Gardner was the first and only novel, A Piece of the Action appeared. However, he had larger literary success as a playwright in 1962 with the premiere of the play Thousand Clowns ( A Thousand Clowns ). For the same film adaptation of the play in 1965 Herb Gardner received an Oscar nomination for best adapted screenplay. Best Male Supporting Actor Martin Balsam won the Oscar. Other pieces Herb Gardners have also been filmed: For The Goodbye People, he led in 1984 to direct myself while Thieves, in 1974 at the Broadhurst Theatre premiered, was filmed in 1977, among others, Hector Elizondo and Bob Fosse. Herb Gardner wrote the screenplay for both films. Another screenplay, based on a 1968 short story incurred Gardner, Who Is Harry Kellerman and Why Is He Saying Those Terrible Things About Me was? The main role of the film took over Dustin Hoffman.
After the release of the one-act play cycle Life and / or Death 1979 Herb Gardner produced his greatest commercial success with the piece I'm not Rappaport, which was premiered in 1985 and successfully in the subsequent period on Broadway and in London's West End run. The play is about the friendship between the two old New York Nat and Midge, which, in exchange humorous and witty dialogues about the trials and tribulations of life, particularly of age. For I'm not Rappaport Herb Gardner received, among other things, the Tony Award for Best Play of the Year in 1986., The German -language premiere took place in 1987 in Berlin. The comedy was also made into a film, the figure of the Jew Nat took this Walter Matthau, the African American Midge Ossie Davis.
The autobiographical piece Conversations with My Father was first performed in 1992 and deals with the problems of assimilation of a Jewish immigrant family in New York in the 1930s. It was next to Thousand Clowns and I'm not Rappaport the biggest success of the playwright. In 2000, Herb Gardner was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Writers Guild of America.
Works
- A Piece of the Action New York in 1958.
- A Thousand Clowns (English: Thousand Clowns ) UA 1962
- The Goodbye People UA 1968
- Thieves (German: Thieves ) UA 1974
- Life and / or Death UA 1979
- I'm not Rappaport (Eng.: I'm not Rappaport ) UA 1985
- Conversations with My Father (German: Conversations with my father ) UA 1992