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Jerome Lawrence (1915-2004) was an American playwright best known for his collaborations with Robert E. Lee (1918-1994)-39 works in all, including the present play and their biographical drama about Henry David Thoreau, The Night Thoreau Spent in Jail (1970) and Auntie Mame (1956), which was based on a novel by Patrick Dennis (1956) and would later be adapted into a successful Broadway musical (Mame, 1966) and film (1974). A theater archive at Ohio State University, their alma mater, is named for Lawrence and Lee.

Inherit the Wind originally ran on Broadway from April of 1955 to June of 1957. It was adapted to the screen in 1960, starring Spencer Tracy, Fredric March, and Gene Kelley, Dick York and Harry Morgan. Although nominated for four Academy Awards, it won none.

SOURCES:

The Chronology of American Literature, edited by Daniel S. Burt. Copyright © 2004 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.