born May 3, 1913, Independence, Kan., U.S.
died June 10, 1973, Hollywood Hills, Calif.
U.S. playwright and screenwriter.
He worked as a schoolteacher (1937–49) and moonlighted as drama editor of the St. Louis Star-Times (1943–46). His first play, Farther Off from Heaven (1947), was revised for Broadway as The Dark at the Top of the Stairs (1957; film, 1960). He is best known for his plays Come Back, Little Sheba (1950; film, 1952), Picnic (1953, Pulitzer Prize; film, 1956), and Bus Stop (1955; film, 1956), and for his original screenplay for Splendor in the Grass (1961, Academy Award). He was one of the first dramatists to explore small-town life in the Midwest.