John Lahr

John Henry Lahr (born July 12, 1941) is an American theater critic and writer. From 1992 to 2013, he was a staff writer and the senior drama critic at The New Yorker. He has written more than twenty books related to theater, including Tennessee Williams: Mad Pilgrimage of the Flesh, and won many awards for his work.

Early life and education John Henry Lahr was born on July 12, 1941 in Los Angeles, California, to a Jewish family.

Until his father was on the cover of Time magazine when Lahr was in grade school, he did not know what he did for a living. Lahr later wrote: "On stage, Dad was sensational; in private he was sensationally taciturn: a brooding absent presence, to be encountered mostly in his bedroom chair at his desk, turned away from us...". His childhood was also filled with access to Hollywood and Vaudeville celebrities who were his father's friends, such as Eddie Foy Jr., Buster Keaton, Groucho Marx, and Ethel Merman.

Lahr received a B.A. from Yale University. While there, he was a member of the literary fraternity of St. Anthony Hall and was an editor of the Yale Daily News. He also has a master's degree from Worcester College, Oxford University.

In 2002, he co-wrote Elaine Stritch's one-woman show Elaine Stritch at Liberty. However, Lahr sued Strich, claiming she "cheated him of profits" from the play.

Critic and writer Lahr became a contributing editor to Evergreen Review in 1967.

In 1992, when he was fifty years old, Lahr became a staff writer and a senior drama critic at The New Yorker magazine. Throughout his time at The New Yorker, Lahr profiled more than forty actors, including Woody Allen, Roseanne Barr, Ingmar Bergman, Cate Blanchett, Judi Dench, Bob Hope, Eddie Izzard, Tony Kushner, David Mamet, Arthur Miller, Helen Mirren, Mira Nair, Mike Nichols, and Al Pacino.

In 2015, Lahr admitted he got death threats for not liking a musical by Stephen Sondheim.

He retired from The New Yorker in 2013.

Recognition and awards In 2014, in a review of Tennessee Williams: Mad Pilgrimage of the Flesh for The Guardian, journalist, historian, and author Alexander Larman called Lahr "one of the greatest biographers writing today".

He has won a number of awards, including:

Harold D. Vursell Memorial Award, American Academy of Arts and Letters (2015) Sheridan Morley Prize for Theatre Biography – Tennessee Williams: Mad Pilgrimage of the Flesh (2015) National Book Critics Circle Award – Tennessee Williams: Mad Pilgrimage of the Flesh (2014) ASCAP Deems Taylor Award for Writers, Editors, Publishers — for Sinatra's Song (1997) George Jean Nathan Award for Dramatic Criticism – for "In Search of a New Mythology", Evergreen Review, January 1969 and reviews in The Village Voice (1968–1968) Yale writing prize She was the daughter of the Liberal politician, art patron, and industrialist Sir Geoffrey Mander. They married on August 12, 1965, at St. Peter's Church in Eaton Square, London. They also had a second wedding in New York City for Lahr's parents, who were unable to travel to England. After their marriage, they lived in New York City.

Lahr contributed to John Kerry's presidential campaign and Democratic organizations.