Sidney Kingsley

Sidney Kingsley (October 22, 1906 – March 20, 1995) was an American dramatist. He received the Pulitzer Prize for Drama for his play Men in White in 1934.

Life and career Kingsley was born Sidney Kirschner in New York. He studied at Cornell University, where he began his career writing plays for the college dramatic club. He joined the Group Theater for the production of his first major work. In 1933 the company performed his play Men in White. Set in a hospital, the play dealt with the issue of illegal abortion, 1930s medical and surgical practices, and the struggle of a promising physician who must choose to dedicate his life to medicine or devote himself to his fiancée. The play was a box-office smash.

Kingsley followed this success with the play Dead End in 1935, a story about slum housing and its connection to crime. The play was fairly successful, being filmed and eventually spawning the film troupe The Dead End Kids. Kingsley's two successes were followed by his 1936 anti-war play Ten Million Ghosts and his 1939 work The World We Make, which were both flops and had short runs.

In 1943, Kingsley had success with the historical drama The Patriots, which told the story of Thomas Jefferson and his activities in the young American republic and won the New York Drama Critics Circle Award for Best Play. Kingsley continued writing for the theater late into his career, adapting Arthur Koestler's novel Darkness at Noon for the stage in 1951, and writing Lunatics and Lovers in 1954 and Night Life in 1962.

In addition to his work for the stage, Kingsley wrote a number of scripts for Hollywood productions, mostly based on his own work. He later also wrote the scripts and templates for numerous television series and television films.

Despite reaching the rank of lieutenant in the United States Army during World War II, soon after, in 1951, Kingsley's name was placed on the Hollywood Blacklist by HUAC, which ended his film career.

His marriage to actress Madge Evans in 1939 lasted until her death in 1981. The couple lived together in their 18th century Oakland, New Jersey, home for 42 years.

Meeting him in 1957, Michael Korda described Kingsley as "a short, powerfully built man with broad shoulders, a big head, and rough-hewn features that made him look like a bust by Sir Jacob Epstein". Kingsley hired Korda as an assistant to do research for a screenplay he was writing for CBS on the Hungarian Revolution which was never produced. and in 1983, he was inducted into the American Theater Hall of Fame.

Kingsley died of a stroke on March 20, 1995, aged 88, in his home in Oakland, New Jersey.

Works 1933: Men in White 1935: Dead End 1936: Ten Million Ghosts 1939: The World We Make 1943: The Patriots 1949: Detective Story 1951: Darkness at Noon (stage & TV adaptation) 1954: Lunatics and Lovers 1962: Night Life

Editions of Works Sidney Kingsley: Five Prizewinning Plays. Ohio State University Press, Columbus OH 1995. (Digitized full access on the publisher's page)

Filmography Year Title Writer Crew Production company Credit 1934 Men in White Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer from the play by 1937 Dead End Samuel Goldwyn Productions based upon the play by 1948 Homecoming Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer story 1951 Detective Story Paramount Pictures based on the play by 1955 Producers' Showcase NBC 1 episode: “Darkness at Noon” - play 1957 World in White CBS CBS Pilot 1957^ Hungarian Revolution film CBS researched and possibly written script but never produced 1960 DuPont Show of the Month CBS 1 episode: Men in White - novel 1963 ITV Play of the Week ITV (England) 1 episode: Darkness at Noon - play 1963 Detective Story - Polizeirevier 21 SDR (West Germany) play 1963 Sonnenfinsternis HR (West Germany) adaptation of Darkness at Noon 1963 The Patriots NBC NBC TV Movie - play 1964 Primera fila TVE (Spain) 1 episode: El cero y el infinito - play 1968 Polizeirevier 21 ZDF (West Germany) Second West German adaptation - play “Detective Story” 1972 Au théâtre ce soir ORTF (France) 1 episode: Histoire d'un détective - play 1973 Serpico Paramount Pictures Provided his Manhattan apartment as a filming location (uncredited) 1974 Alta Comedia Canal 9 (Argentina) 1 episode: Uniforme blanco 1976 Great Performances PBS 1 episode: The Patriots - play/teleplay 1971, 1978 Estudio 1 TVE (Spain) 2 episodes: Historia de detectives (1978), Historias de detectives (1971) 1978 Teatro estudio TVE (Spain) 1 episode: Historia de detectives ^film never produced

Awards 1934 Pulitzer Prize for Best Drama for Men in White.