Jerome Lawrence
| Jerome Lawrence | |
|---|---|
| Born |
July 14, 1915 Cleveland, Ohio |
| Died | February 29, 2004 (aged 88) Malibu, California |
| Occupation | Playwright, Screenwriter |
| Nationality | American |
| Notable works | Auntie Mame, Inherit the Wind |
Jerome Lawrence (born Jerome Lawrence Schwartz; July 14, 1915 – February 29, 2004) was an American playwright and author. After graduating from Ohio State University in 1937 and the University of California, Los Angeles in 1939, Lawrence partnered with Robert Edwin Lee to help create Armed Forces Radio. The two built a partnership over their lifetimes, and continued to collaborate on screenplays and musicals until Lee's death in 1994.
Lawrence and Lee won acclaim for the 1955 screenplay Inherit the Wind, based on the Scopes Trial. Lawrence describes the couple's plays as "shar[ing] the theme of the dignity of every individual mind, and that mind's life-long battle against limitation and censorship". The two deliberately avoided Broadway later in their careers and formed the American Playwrights Theater in 1963 to help promote their plays. After Lee's death, Lawrence continued to write plays in his Malibu, California home. He died in Malibu on February 29, 2004, from complications of a stroke.
Jerome Lawrence Schwartz was born in Cleveland, Ohio, on July 14, 1915. Lawrence's father, Samuel Schwartz, operated a printing press, while his mother Sarah (née Rogen) wrote poetry and did volunteer work. After he graduated from Glenville High School in 1933, Lawrence attended Ohio State University, where he graduated with a Bachelor's degree in 1937. While a student at Ohio State, Lawrence was initiated into the Nu chapter of the Zeta Beta Tau Fraternity, a historically Jewish social fraternity. Two years later, he completed graduate studies at the University of California, Los Angeles.
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