Iris Rainer Dart

Iris Rainer Dart ( Rainer; born March 3, 1944) is an American author and playwright for television and the stage. Her most notable novel is Beaches, which was made into a 1988 film of the same name. She has also written several stage musicals as well as for television shows, such as The Sonny and Cher Show. She voiced Donna, Peter Cottontail's love interest, in the 1971 stop-motion Easter special, Here Comes Peter Cottontail.

Early life Iris Rainer was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and was an actress as a youth with the Curtaineers, an interracial theater group at the Settlement house, at the Pittsburgh Playhouse, and The White Barn Theatre. She also went to classes at the Pittsburgh Playhouse as a child.

She graduated from Taylor Allderdice High School in 1962 and was inducted into their alumni hall of fame in 2009. She is a graduate of Carnegie Mellon University with a degree in theater.

Dart has written nine novels, including Beaches.

She wrote the book and lyrics for the 2009 stage musical, Laughing Matters, for the Pasadena Playhouse, California. Her next work was the Roundabout Theatre Broadway production of her new musical, The People in the Picture, which opened on April 28, 2011, and closed on June 19, 2011, and starred Donna Murphy.

Personal life She was married to rock concert promoter Steve Wolf until they divorced in 1977 (less than half a year before he was murdered when robbers broke into his house). She is currently married to Stephen Dart, a California businessman. She has two adult children, a son (by Wolf) and a daughter (by Dart), and two grandchildren. The Boys in the Mailroom (1980) Beaches (1985) Til the Real Thing Comes Along (1987) I'll Be There (republished as Beaches 2: I'll Be There) (1991) The Stork Club (1992) Show Business Kills (1995) When I Fall in Love (1999) Some Kind of Miracle (2003)