Walter Francis Kerr

Walter Francis Kerr 1913-96, American drama critic, b. Evanston, Ill. He wrote for the theater in the 1930s, and became drama critic for the New York Herald Tribune in 1951 and for the New York Times in 1966. His books include How Not to Write a Play (1955), The Decline of Pleasure (1962), The Theater in Spite of Itself (1963), and Tragedy and Comedy (1967). His book The Silent Clowns (1975) spurred a revival of interest in film comics of the twenties. He won a Pulitzer Prize for dramatic criticism in 1978.

Kerr, Walter Francis (1913– ), American drama critic, who from 1945 to 1949 was Associate Professor of Drama at the Catholic University. He was dramatic critic of the Catholic weekly, The Commonwealth, for two years, and then went to the Herald-Tribune. After the latter ceased publication in 1966 he moved to the New York Times, and in 1978 he won the Pulitzer Prize for his writings on the theatre. In 1949 he collaborated with his wife Jean [née Collins] (1923– ) in the revue Touch and Go (1949; London, 1950), and with her he wrote the book of the musical Goldilocks (1958). Jean Kerr herself was the author of a number of bitingly witty plays, of which the best known are Mary, Mary (1961; London, 1963) and Finishing Touches (1973).

Kerr, Walter [Francis] (1913–96), critic and playwright. He was born in Evanston, Illinois, and educated at De Pauw and Northwestern Universities, then from 1938 to 1945 he taught speech and drama at Catholic University in Washington. Kerr wrote librettos and/or sketches for the musicals Count Me In (1942), Sing Out, Sweet Land! (1944), and Touch and Go (1949), directing the last two as well. In 1950 he became drama critic for Commonweal and the next year for the Herald Tribune. It was during his tenure on this paper that he staged his wife Jean Kerr's comedy, King of Hearts (1954), and with her wrote the book for the musical Goldilocks (1958), which he directed. With the demise of the Herald Tribune in 1966, he became drama critic for the Times, but soon confined himself to Sunday critiques. Among his books are How Not to Write a Play (1955), Pieces at Eight (1957), The Decline of Pleasure (1962), Theatre in Spite of Itself (1963), and Journey to the Center of the Theatre (1979). Kerr's writings, known for their insight, readability, and intuitive sense of quality, earned him a Pulitzer Prize, and in 1990 Broadway's Ritz Theatre was renamed after him.