Robert J. Avrech
{{Short description|American screenwriter}}
{{Infobox person
|name = Robert J. Avrech
|birth_date =
|birth_place = United States
|occupation = Screenwriter
}}
Robert J. Avrech is an American screenwriter whose works include the 1984 film Body Double (with Brian De Palma){{Cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=9804E1D91539F935A15753C1A962948260|title=Movie Review - FILM: DEPALMA EVOKES 'VERTIGO' IN BODY DOUBLE - NYTimes.com|website=www.nytimes.com|language=en|access-date=2017-02-09}} and A Stranger Among Us (1992).{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1992/07/17/movies/review-film-a-stranger-among-us-a-hard-boiled-outsider-in-a-sheltered-world.html|title=Review/Film -- A Stranger Among Us; A Hard-Boiled Outsider In a Sheltered World|last=Maslin|first=Janet|date=1992-07-17|newspaper=The New York Times|access-date=2017-02-09|issn=0362-4331}} He won an Emmy Award for his screenplay The Devil's Arithmetic, based on the young adult novel by Jane Yolen.{{Cite web|url=https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0043334/awards|title=Robert J. Avrech|website=IMDb|access-date=2017-02-09}}
He is also the author of the children's novel The Hebrew Kid and the Apache Maiden,{{Cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/hebrewkidapachem00avre|title=The Hebrew Kid and the Apache Maiden|last=Avrech|first=Robert J.|date=2004-11-16|publisher=Seraphic Press|isbn=9780975438213|edition=First|location=Los Angeles|language=English|url-access=registration}} and the memoir How I Married Karen,{{Cite book|url=https://www.amazon.com/How-Married-Karen-Robert-Avrech-ebook/dp/B00AW4HP8Y/|title=How I Married Karen|last=Avrech|first=Robert J.|language=English}} and publishes personal and political writings on his blog, Seraphic Press.
Personal life
Avrech is an Orthodox Jew and a graduate of the Yeshiva of Flatbush in Brooklyn, New York, Yeshiva University High School for Boys, and Bard College.{{Cite web|url=https://jewishhomela.com/2014/01/10/7-questions-with-robert-j-avrech-award-winning-hollywood-screenwriter-2/|title=7 Questions with Robert J. Avrech, award-winning Hollywood screenwriter|last=WordPress.com|first=Blog at|date=2014-01-10|website=JEWISH HOME LA|access-date=2017-02-09}} He was the father of two daughters and a son, but his son Ariel died of complications from severe pulmonary fibrosis at the age of 22.{{Cite news|url=http://jewishjournal.com/old_stories/8182/|title=Ariel Avrech — Jewish Journal|date=2003-07-24|newspaper=Jewish Journal|access-date=2017-02-09|language=en-US}} Avrech established Seraphic Press in his son's memory, to publish works "for Jewish teens,"{{Cite news|url=http://jewishjournal.com/los_angeles/calendar_stories/picks_clicks/10802/|title=7 Days in the Arts — Jewish Journal|date=2005-01-06|newspaper=Jewish Journal|access-date=2017-02-09|language=en-US}} however only one such title, The Hebrew Kid and the Apache Maiden, has been published.{{r|amazon}} His writings{{cite news
|newspaper=The Jewish Press
|url=https://www.jewishpress.com/author/robertjavrech
|title=Robert J. Avrech |accessdate=September 4, 2019}} have also appeared in The Jewish Press.{{cite news
|newspaper=The Jewish Press
|url=https://www.jewishpress.com/indepth/my-heart-unhinged/2004/08/11
|title=My Heart Unhinged |author=Robert J. Avrech |author-link=Robert J. Avrech |date=August 11, 2004}}{{cite news |newspaper=The Jewish Press
|url=https://www.jewishpress.com/indepth/front-page/jew-without-a-gun/2013/01/30
|date=January 30, 2013 |title=Jew without a gun |author=Robert J. Avrech |author-link=Robert J. Avrech }}
Avrech also established the Ariel Avrech Memorial Lecture series at Young Israel of Century City in memory of his son. Early titles in this lecture series included "What Was the Rosh Yeshiva Reading: Intellectual Openness in 19th Century Lithuania", while more recent titles have included "Shifting Alliances: Why Liberals No Longer Reliably Support Israel — And Conservatives Do".{{Cite web|url=http://www.yicc.org/ariel-avrech-memorial-lectures/|title=Annual Ariel Avrech Memorial Lecture Archives {{!}} Young Israel of Century City|website=www.yicc.org|language=en-US|access-date=2017-02-09}}
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- {{imdb name|0043334}}
- [http://www.seraphicpress.com/ Seraphic Secret] – Avrech's blog
- [https://www.ou.org/life/arts-media/savitsky-avrech/ Interview with Steve Savitsky, President of Orthodox Union (November 25, 2014)]
- [http://www.jewishjournal.com/hollywoodjew/item/qa_with_robert_avrech Interview with Danielle Berrin of the Jewish Journal (January 8, 2014)]
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Avrech, Robert J.}}
Category:Jewish American novelists
Category:American Orthodox Jews
Category:American male screenwriters
Category:Year of birth missing (living people)
Category:21st-century American Jews
Category:Jewish American screenwriters