James Kirkwood, Jr.
| James Kirkwood | |
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Kirkwood in 1975
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| Born | James Kirkwood Jr. 22 August 1924 Los Angeles, California, U.S. |
| Died | 21 April 1989 (aged 64) Manhattan, New York City, U.S. |
| Nationality | American |
| Information | |
| Notable work(s) | P. S. Your Cat Is Dead! |
| Magnum opus | A Chorus Line |
| Awards | Pulitzer Prize for Drama (1976) |
James Kirkwood Jr. (August 22, 1924 – April 21, 1989) was an American playwright, author and actor. In 1976 he received the Tony Award, the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Book of a Musical, and the Pulitzer Prize for Drama for the Broadway hit A Chorus Line.
Kirkwood was born in Los Angeles. His father James Kirkwood Sr. was an actor and director in silent films and his mother was actress Lila Lee. After their divorce, he spent much of his time with his mother's family in Elyria, Ohio where he graduated from high school.
From 1953 to 1957 he played Mickey Emerson on the CBS soap opera Valiant Lady. Kirkwood wrote the semi-autobiographical novel There Must Be a Pony, which was made into a television film starring Elizabeth Taylor and Robert Wagner. Other novels include P. S. Your Cat Is Dead! (adapted into a play of the same name, which was, in turn, adapted into a film by Steve Guttenberg), Good Times/Bad Times, Some Kind of Hero, and Hit Me with a Rainbow.
In 1959 Kirkwood appeared on Perry Mason as Johnny Baylor, son of Sen. Harriman Baylor, in "The Case of the Foot-Loose Doll."
In 1970, Simon & Schuster published Kirkwood's American Grotesque about the trial of Clay Shaw.Shaw, a New Orleans businessman, was tried by New Orleans District Attorney Jim Garrison on charges that he was involved in a conspiracy to assassinate United States President John F. Kennedy and later acquitted.Kirkus Reviews said "Kirkwood's portrait of Shaw as St. Sebastian is overdone to the point of self defeat" and that "the book does clinch the impression that legal grounds for the conspiracy charges were insufficient."
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