Garson Kanin

Garson Kanin
Spencer Tracy (left) and Garson Kanin (right) at the Long Island Studios of the Army Signal Corps for the recording of Tracy's narration of the "Ring of Steel" on February 19, 1942.
Born	November 24, 1912(1912-11-24) Rochester, New York, USA
Died	March 13, 1999 (aged 86) New York City, New York
Spouse(s)	Ruth Gordon (1942-1985) Marian Seldes (1990-1999)

Garson Kanin (November 24, 1912 – March 13, 1999) was an American writer and director of plays and films. Born in Rochester, New York, he is most notable for

• his first film A Man to Remember (1938), listed as one of the ten best films of 1938 by The New York Times.
• writing, in collaboration with his wife, actress Ruth Gordon (whom he married in 1942), the classic Spencer Tracy/Katharine Hepburn film comedies, the 1949 Adam's Rib and the 1952 Pat and Mike, both directed by George Cukor.
• writing and staging the 1946 play Born Yesterday, which ran for 1642 performances; and with George Cukor helped work out the screenplay of the 1950 film adaptation (see Garson Kanin's "Hollywood" page 326).
• directing the 1955 play The Diary of Anne Frank, which ran for 717 performances.
• directing the 1964 musical Funny Girl, which ran for 1348 performances.

In 1990, the widower Kanin married the actress Marian Seldes, who survives him. Kanin died at age 86 in New York City of undisclosed causes.

Acquaintances and memorable sayings

He was a colleague of Thornton Wilder, who mentored him, and an admirer of the work of Frank Capra. Kanin said "I'd rather be Capra than God, if there is a Capra." Kanin and Katharine Hepburn were the only witnesses to Laurence Olivier and Vivien Leigh's wedding in California on 31 August 1940. In 1941, he and Katharine Hepburn worked with his brother Michael Kanin and Ring Lardner, Jr. on the early drafts of what would become Woman of the Year, right before Garson enlisted in the army. He is also quoted as saying, "When your work speaks for itself, don't interrupt."

Selected publications

• Remembering Mr. Maugham; with an introduction by Noel Coward, 1966
• Movieola, New York, Simon & Shuster, 1979
• Smash. New York: Viking, 1980

References

External links

• Garson Kanin at the Internet Movie Database
• Garson Kanin at the Internet Broadway Database
• Garson Kanin at Find a Grave

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