Leonard Gershe

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Leonard Gershe (born June 10, 1922 in New York City , † March 9, 2002 in Beverly Hills , California ) was an American playwright and screenwriter.

Life

Gershe began his career as a librettist for musicals . In 1947 he worked in London with the composer Richard Addinsell . In the 1950s he also worked as a screenwriter , initially for a few television series and later for films. In 1957 the music film Funny Face started in cinemas. Fred Astaire and Audrey Hepburn danced and played in the leading roles . Funny Face was originally inspired by Leonard Gershe's friendship with photographer Richard Avedon and his wife Doe, a model. Gershe was impressed by Doe's beauty and her ambivalence about her own profession. Avedon served as a model for the character of the photographer embodied by Fred Astaire and was available as a visual advisor for the film. 1958 Gershe was for his screenplay for Funny Face in the category Best Original Screenplay for the Oscar nominated. In addition to numerous scripts, he also wrote his own plays. Gershe died of complications from a stroke .

“When I think of Audrey Hepburn in Funny Face, I keep coming back to what her mother said to me when I met her. 'I read the script when it was sent to Audrey in Paris,' she said, 'and I can hardly believe someone wrote it who didn't know her. You find all facets of her in it, I mean, you can say: it's Audrey '. Now that I know Audrey, I wholeheartedly agree, she is Funny Face. "

- Leonard Gershe

Butterflies are free

From 1969 to free butterflies are (Butterflies Are Free) Gershes known and most successful comedy on Broadway with over 1,100 performances listed. Gershe's inspiration for Butterflies Are Free was a newspaper report about a young man from Scarsdale who was determined to become successful despite his blindness. He published his autobiography in 1972.

The play is about Don Baker, blind from birth, who tries to free himself from his overly caring mother, Mrs. Florence Baker. He moved out of home to evade maternal tutelage and moved into a shabby apartment in New York . There he meets his neighbor Jill, a hip and extroverted young woman who dreams of becoming an actress. The character of Jill is based on Mia Farrow , with whom Gershe lived next door to in New York. Jill is fascinated by how confidently Don deals with his blindness. Both plunge into a stormy affair. Surprisingly, Don's mother, Mrs. Baker, turns up, although Don had agreed with her that she shouldn't visit him for two months. The successful children's book author is appalled by the only lightly clad Jill and the disorderly circumstances. She wants to bring her son back home. But she has to realize that Don has grown up and become more confident. Meanwhile, Jill has auditioned with the director Ralph. This gets her a little supporting role and Jill moves in with Ralph. For Don this is a bitter disappointment, he now wants to go back home. But Mrs. Baker has come to understand that independence and self-reliance are important to Don. She gives up her patronizing motherhood and urges Don to take his life into her own hands. Don stays in his apartment in New York.

For the film version of the play with Goldie Hawn in 1972 wrote Gershe even the script. Eileen Heckart , who played the mother Mrs. Baker in the film, won an Oscar for best supporting actress .

Nominations

  • 1958: Academy Award for Best Writing, Story and Screenplay, Written Directly for the Screen ( Funny Face )
  • 1958: Writers Guild of America Award for Best American Musical ( Funny Face )
  • 1973: Writers Guild of America Award for Best Comedy Adapted from Another Medium ( Butterfly are free )
  • 1974: Writers Guild of America Award for Best Comedy Adapted from Another Medium ( 40 Carats )

Filmography (selection)

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c Dagmar Trávníková: The Translation and Analysis of "Butterflies are Free" by Leonard Gershe . Diploma thesis, Brno 2005, p. 28 f.
  2. ^ Leonard Gershe, quoted in: John Howard Reid, Hollywood's Classic Comedies , 2007, p. 88.
  3. ↑ Harold Eliot Krents: To Race the Wind ., 1972

literature

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Gershe, Leonard
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American playwright and screenwriter
DATE OF BIRTH June 10, 1922
PLACE OF BIRTH New York City , United States
DATE OF DEATH March 9, 2002
Place of death Beverly Hills , California , United States