William Marchant (playwright)
{{short description|American dramatist}}
{{Infobox writer
| name = William Marchant
| birth_date = {{birth date|1923|5|1}}
| birth_place = Allentown, Pennsylvania, U.S.
| death_date = {{death date and age|1995|11|5|1923|5|1}}
| death_place = Paramus, New Jersey, U.S.
| occupation = Playwright and screenwriter
| education = Temple University {{small|(BA)}}
Yale University {{small|(MFA)}}
}}
William Marchant (May 1, 1923 – November 5, 1995]]) was a playwright and screenwriter. He is best known for writing the play The Desk Set, which served as the basis for the 1957 Walter Lang movie Desk Set.
Marchant was a resident of the Actor's Fund home in Englewood, New Jersey at the time of his death. He had earlier lived in the Stanton section of Readington Township, New Jersey, in a home owned by Broadway actress Dorothy Stickney.{{Cite news |last=Gussow |first=Mel |date=1995-12-20 |title=William Marchant, 72, 'Desk Set' Playwright |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1995/12/20/arts/william-marchant-72-desk-set-playwright.html |access-date=2024-01-25 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}}
Early life and education
Marchant was born in Allentown, Pennsylvania, on May 1, 1923. He attended Temple University in Philadelphia and Yale School of Drama in New Haven, Connecticut.
Career
=Playwriting=
Marchant's play To Be Continued, which included a 23-year-old Grace Kelly in the cast, opened on April 23, 1952 at the Booth Theatre on Broadway and ran for 13 performances.https://www.playbill.com/production/to-be-continued-booth-theatre-vault-0000001746 accessed 6/26/2023{{Cite web |title=Grace Kelly |url=https://www.playbill.com/person/grace-kelly-vault-0000106270 |access-date=January 25, 2024 |website=Playbill}}
The Desk Set opened on Broadway on October 24, 1955 at the Broadhurst Theatre and ran for 297 performances with Shirley Booth in the lead role.https://www.playbill.com/production/the-desk-set-broadhurst-theatre-vault-0000002070 accessed 6/26/2023 The play was the source material for an eponymous 1957 movie starring Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn.
In 1975, Marchant wrote The Privilege of his Company, a remembrance of Noël Coward, which was published by Bobbs-Merrill Company.{{Cite news |last=Frankel |first=Haskel |date=1975-06-22 |title=The Privilege Of His Company |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1975/06/22/archives/the-privilege-of-his-company.html |access-date=2024-01-25 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}}
He translated the French play Les Dames Du Jeudi by Loleh Bellon for Lynn Redgrave and John Clark, who premiered it as Thursday's Girls at the Coronet Theater in Los Angeles in 1981.{{Cite web |title=Stage |url=https://www.redgrave.com/stage.htm |access-date=2024-01-25 |website=www.redgrave.com}}
=Screenwriting=
As a screenwriter, Marchant wrote several episodes for the Armchair Theatre and Armchair Mystery Theatre, dramatized Louise, a W. Somerset Maugham story, for a 1969 BBC Two television production, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0545455/ accessed 6/26/2023{{Cite web |title="W. Somerset Maugham" Louise (TV Episode 1969) |url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0154792/?ref_=ttep_ep9 |access-date=January 25, 2024 |website=IMDB}} and worked on two films, Triple Cross (1966) and My Lover, My Son. https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0545455/ accessed 6/26/2023
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- {{IMDb name|0545455}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Marchant, William}}
Category:20th-century American dramatists and playwrights
Category:20th-century American male writers
Category:20th-century American screenwriters
Category:American male dramatists and playwrights
Category:American male screenwriters
Category:David Geffen School of Drama at Yale University alumni
Category:People from Readington Township, New Jersey
Category:Screenwriters from New Jersey
Category:Screenwriters from Pennsylvania
Category:Temple University alumni
Category:Writers from Allentown, Pennsylvania