Robert Anderson, American Playwright Dead at 91

Broadway playwright Robert Anderson has passed away at the age of 91.

The author, who suffered from Alzheimer's disease in recent years, died of pneumonia at his Manhattan, New York home on Monday February 9th.  

While Anderson wrote several Hollywood screenplays, TV scripts and novels, he was best known for his Broadway hit Tea and Sympathy as well as You Know I Can't Hear You When the Water's Running.

Born April 28, 1917, in New York, Anderson went to Harvard. He served as a lieutenant in the Navy in the Pacific during World War II. After the war, he studied with John Gassner at the New School's Dramatic Workshop. Anderson's first Broadway effort was contributing to a short-lived revue "Dance Me a Song" (1950), whose cast included Wally Cox and Bob Fosse.

Tea And Sympathy debuted on Broadway in 1953, with Deborah Kerr and John Kerr taking the starring roles. The actors reprised their parts for a 1956 film adaptation, which was directed by Vincente Minnelli.

Anderson wrote the screenplays for the 1957 movie Until They Sail, 1966's The Sand Pebbles, and The Nun's Story, for which he received an Oscar nomination in 1959. 

Anderson was married twice, the second time to the screen actress Theresa Wright. He had no children, but is survived by a step-daughter, Mary-Kelly Busch.

A memorial service for Anderson is due to take place this Friday February 13th, 2009.