Kerr, Walter (Francis)

Kerr, Walter [Francis] (1913–), drama critic for the New York Herald Tribune (1951–66) and The New York Times (1966–83), won a Pulitzer Prize (1978) for his drama criticism. His own writing of plays includes Murder in Reverse (1935), adaptations of Rip Van Winkle (1937), The Vicar of Wakefield (1938), Molière's The Miser (1942), and Sing Out, Sweet Land (1944), an opera libretto that is a musical biography of America. His books include How Not To Write a Play (1955), Criticism and Censorship (1957), Pieces of Eight (1957), The Theatre in Spite of Itself (1963), Tragedy and Comedy (1967), Thirty Plays Hath November (1969), God on the Gymnasium Floor (1971), The Silent Clowns (1975), and Journey to the Center of the Theater (1979).

Jean [ Collins] Kerr (1923– ), his wife, collaborated with him in adapting Werfel's The Song of Bernadette (1946) and on the musical comedy Goldilocks (1948). Her own humorous plays include Mary, Mary (1961), Poor Richard (1964), Finishing Touches (1973), and Lunch Hour (1980). Please Don't Eat the Daisies (1957), The Snake Has All the Lines (1960), and How I Got To Be Perfect (1978) are humorous autobiographies.