Ruth Goetz
| Ruth Goetz | |
|---|---|
| Born |
January 12, 1912 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S. |
| Died | October 12, 2001 (aged 89) Englewood, New Jersey, U.S. |
| Occupation | Playwright, Screenwriter |
Ruth Goetz (January 12, 1912 — October 12, 2001) was an American playwright, screenwriter, and translator along with her husband and collaborator Augustus Goetz.
Ruth Goetz was born Ruth Goodman on January 12, 1912 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to Lily Cartun Goodman and Philip Goodman, a playwright and a theatrical producer. In her early years, Goetz attended Miss Marshall's Classes for Young Gentlewomen. Shortly after, Goetz studied scenic design with Norman Bel Geddes and harbored work as a costume designer. Goetz married Augustus Otto Goetz, a stockbroker at the time, on October 11, 1932.
In pursuit of writing careers, the Goetzes began collaborating on plays together. Among their first, written in collaboration with Arthur Sheekman, was Franklin Street, a comedy loosely based on Philip Goodman's autobiography, which closed at the National Theater in Washington, D.C. in 1940. Their next play, One-Man Show, the story of the relationship between a father and daughter set in the world of art dealers, opened at Broadway's Ethel Barrymore Theatre in 1945 for a brief run.
Later, the Goetzes adapted Washington Square, a novel by author Henry James, to the stage under the same title. Met with little success, the Goetzes revised the ending and brought it back to the stage under the title The Heiress onto Broadway in 1947. After the success of the play, the Goetzes wrote the screenplay for its adaptation to the screen in a film directed by William Wyler. The film received critical acclaim and garnered the duo a Writers Guild of America nomination for Best Written American Drama.
In the late 1940s, author André Gide authorized the Goetzes to adapt his novel, L'Immoraliste, for the stage. The theatrical adaptation opened on Broadway in 1954.
The duo would go on to adapt author Theodore Dreiser's novel Sister Carrie and playwright Zoë Akins' stage play Morning Glory to the screen. Additionally, the duo wrote the screenplay for MGM's Rhapsody.
The last collaboration between the Goetzes was the theatrical adaption of Storm Jameson's novel, The Hidden River, which opened on Broadway in 1957. Shortly after its opening, Augustus Goetz died of illness on September 30, 1957.
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