Authors starting with K

- Garson Kanin (November 24, 1912 - March 13, 1999) -

Ancestry: Rochester, New York, USA

Garson Kanin was an American writer and director of plays and films. Born in Rochester, New York, he is most notable for

* his first film A Man to Remember (1938), listed as one of the ten best films of 1938 by The New York Times.

* writing, in collaboration with his wife, actress Ruth Gordon (whom he married in 1942), the classic Spencer Tracy/Katharine Hepburn film comedies, the 1949 Adam's Rib and the 1952 Pat and Mike, both directed by George Cukor.

* writing and staging the 1946 play Born Yesterday, which ran for 1642 performances; and with George Cukor helped work out the screenplay of the 1950 film adaptation (see Garson Kanin's "Hollywood" page 326).

* directing the 1955 play The Diary of Anne Frank, which ran for 717 performances.

* directing the 1964 musical Funny Girl, which ran for 1348 performances.

In 1990, the widower Kanin married the actress Marian Seldes, who survives him. Kanin died at age 86 in New York City of undisclosed causes.