Manya Starr

Manya Garbat Starr (January 21, 1921 - July 26, 2000) was an American writer who worked on radio and television programs. She also collaborated with her husband on films.

Early life and education Starr was born Manya Garbat, the daughter of Dr. and Mrs. Abraham L. Garbat, on January 21, 1921. She graduated from the Dalton School in New York City and, in 1941, from Bryn Mawr College. George Gershwin was her godfather, and while she was at Bryn Mawr she produced, directed, and re-wrote Porgy and Bess under rights granted by Gershwin's estate. Doctor's Wife, The Egg and I, First Love, and Paradise Bay. As the owner of that program, she also dealt with actors' contracts and kept the building of sets with budgeted costs. Other TV programs for which she wrote included Suspense, The Doctors, Home, She wrote the off-Broadway play Whisper to Me.

Collaboration with Nowak She collaborated with the documentary filmmaker Amram Nowak, whom she married in 1981 or 1982. Their projects included Isaac in America: A Journey with Isaac Bashevis Singer, which was nominated for an Academy Award in 1987. Other projects of theirs were broadcast on PBS programs. They included: "Neil Simon — Not Just for Laughs" on American Masters and "The Cafeteria" (adapted from a Singer short story) on American Playhouse. The executive producer of American Masters, Susan Lacy, said, "They're very open, they're wonderful people to work with — very intelligent, very talented, very tenacious." They had two sons. She married Nowak on May 22, 1981. She died on July 26, 2000, from complications after surgery at Lennox Hill Hospital in New York, aged 79.