Arthur Laurents

Arthur Laurents
Laurents in 1983
Born	Arthur Levine (1917-07-14)July 14, 1917 New York City, U.S.
Died	May 5, 2011(2011-05-05) (aged 93) New York City, U.S.
Resting place	Quogue, New York[1]
Occupation	Playwright theatre director film producer screenwriter
Language	English
Alma mater	Cornell University
Period	1945–2011
Notable awards	1968 Tony Award for Best Musical – Hallelujah, Baby! 1975 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Director of a Musical – Gypsy 1977 Writers Guild of America Award for Best Original Screenplay – The Turning Point 1984 Tony Award for Best Direction of a Musical – La Cage aux Folles
Partner	Tom Hatcher (co. 1954; d. 2006)

Arthur Laurents (July 14, 1917 – May 5, 2011) was an American playwright, theatre director, film producer and screenwriter.^[2] With a career spanning seven decades he received numerous accolades including two Tony Awards, a Drama Desk Award, and nominations for two Academy Awards, two BAFTA Awards, and a Golden Globe Award.

After writing scripts for radio shows after college and then training films for the U.S. Army during World War II, Laurents turned to writing for Broadway, producing a body of work that includes West Side Story (1957), Gypsy (1959), and Hallelujah, Baby! (1967), winning the Tony Award for Best Musical for the latter. He directed the musical La Cage aux Folles in 1983 and received the Tony Award for Best Direction of a Musical.

Laurents also worked as a screenwriter on Hollywood films such as Alfred Hitchcock's thriller Rope (1948), Anastasia (1956), Bonjour Tristesse (1958) and Sydney Pollack's romance The Way We Were (1973). He received two Academy Award nominations for Best Picture and Best Original Screenplay for the Herbert Ross drama film The Turning Point (1977).