Behrman, S(amuel) N(athaniel)

Behrman, S(amuel) N(athaniel) (1893–1973), American dramatist, best remembered for the deft characterization and sparkling dialogue of his comedies. His first solo work was The Second Man (1927), and in 1929 he made an excellent dramatization of Enid Bagnold's Serena Blandish (London, 1938). It was followed by Meteor (also 1929), a study of an egotist in the world of business; Brief Moment (1931), which dramatized the misalliance of a socially prominent young man; Biography (1932), which dealt with the contrasting temperaments of a carefree woman portrait painter and a crusading journalist; Rain from Heaven (1934), which used an English houseparty to establish the untenability of civilized detachment in a strife-torn world; and End of Summer (1936), showing the bankruptcy of the idle rich. He then made for the Lunts an excellent adaptation of Giraudoux's Amphitryon 38 (1937; London, 1938) and in his next play, No Time for Comedy (1939; London, 1941), dealt with what was possibly his own dilemma, that of a writer who is anxious to come to grips with serious contemporary problems but has a great talent for light comedy. He then embarked on a series of adaptations, two of which, The Pirate (1942) from a play by Ludwig Fulda and I Know My Love (1949) based on Marcel Achard's Auprès de ma blonde, again provided excellent vehicles for the Lunts; Franz Werfel's Jacobowsky and the Colonel (1944; London, 1945) showed a Jew and an anti-Semitic Pole sharing a common peril; Jane (1952; London, 1947) was a straight comedy based on a story by Somerset Maugham; and Fanny (1945) a musical based on Pagnol's ‘Marius’ film trilogy. The Cold Wind and the Warm (1958) was partly autobiographical, and his last play was But for Whom Charlie (1964).