NEWSArthur Laurents, Playwright Genius, Dies at 93
May 6 2011, Published 2:53 p.m. ET
Broadway fans are singing a somber tune today since iconic playwright, screenwriter and director Arthur Laurents has passed away. He died from pneumonia complications in NYC at 93.
Up until two years ago with the premiere of his off-Broadway show, Come Back, Come Back Wherever You Are, Arthur spent about 65 years focusing writing an directing plays! According to the New York Times, he got his big break in 1957 with West Side Story which retold Romeo and Juliet.
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Merely two years later the Broadway great was at it again and created another hit called Gypsy. Fast forward a few years — in 1972 he wrote a novel, The Way We Were, and also its screenplay which starred the legendary Barbra Streisand and Robert Redford.
