William Inge
Photograph by Carl van Vechten , from the Van Vechten Collection of the Library of Congress
William Motter Inge (born May 3, 1913 in Independence , Kansas , † June 10, 1973 in Hollywood Hills) was an American playwright .
Life
William Inge grew up in the small town of Independence, Kansas and later brought the formative years of small town life to his plays.
Inge studied at the University of Kansas and graduated in 1935 with a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Speech and Drama. After various jobs, he made up his Master of Arts degree at the George Peabody College for Teachers in 1943. He then got a job as a theater and music critic with the St. Louis Times . It was there that he met Tennessee Williams for the first time , who had Inge involved in the production of The Glass Menagerie .
Inspired by Williams' work, he wrote his first own piece, Farther Off from Heaven (1947), which Williams immediately recommended for performance. The piece was then produced in Dallas by Margo Jones. With his next play Come back, little Sheba (1950) Inge was named "the most promising writer of the 1950 Broadway season" . His next success was Picnic (1952), which gave him a. a. earned the Pulitzer Prize . Inge next wrote Bus Stop (1955), which was later filmed with Marilyn Monroe and which would become his best-known work. Two years later, The Dark at the Top of the Stairs (1957), a rework of his first play, which premiered on Broadway. During this time he was hailed as the second Tennessee Williams.
However, his later works no longer lived up to this award. These include The Dark at the Top of the Stairs , A Loss of Roses (1960), Natural Affection (1963), Where's Daddy? (1966) and The Last Pad (1970). The only exception to this string of failures was Fever in the Blood (1961) for which he received the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay. It was directed by Elia Kazan , who was close friends with him, and, starring Natalie Wood and Warren Beatty .
Firmly convinced that he could no longer write, he fell into a deep depression . He committed suicide at home in the Hollywood Hills on June 10, 1973.
Today William Inge's pieces are also experiencing a revival in Germany. Evidence of this is v. a. the production of Bus Stop by the Neue Bühne Darmstadt under the direction of Regine Renken and the highly acclaimed production by the theater group lila from Ansbach under the direction of Thorsten Siebenhaar.
Filmography (selection)
Literary source:
- 1953: Come Back, Little Sheba ( Come Back Little Sheba ) - Director: Daniel Mann
- 1955: Picnic ( Picnic ) - Director: Joshua Logan
- 1956: Bus Stop - Directed by Joshua Logan
- 1960: The Dark at the Top of the Stairs ( The Dark at the Top of the Stairs ) - Director: Delbert Mann
- 1963: The Lost Rose ( The Stripper ) - Director: Franklin J. Schaffner - based on the play A Loss of Roses
- 1964: Resist If You Can ( Bus Riley's Back in Town ) - directed by Harvey Hart
- 1979: Good Luck, Miss Wyckoff - Director: Marvin J. Chomsky
- 1981: Dreams melt away like sand ( Splendor in the Grass ) - Director: Richard C. Sarafian
- 2000: Picnic ( Picnic ) - Director: Ivan Passer
Script:
- 1960: Splendor in the Grass ( Splendor in the Grass ) - Director: Elia Kazan
- 1961: My Brother, a Scoundrel ( All Fall Down ) - Director: John Frankenheimer
Web links
- William Inge in the Internet Movie Database (English)
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Inge, William |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Inge, William Motter (full name) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | American playwright |
| DATE OF BIRTH | May 3, 1913 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Independence , Kansas |
| DATE OF DEATH | June 10, 1973 |
| Place of death | Hollywood Hills |