Kerr, Walter Francis

▪ 1997

      U.S. drama critic and playwright (b. July 8, 1913, Evanston, Ill.—d. Oct. 9, 1996, Dobbs Ferry, N.Y.), served for more than 30 years as one of the most influential theatre critics in the country. In 1978 he was awarded a Pulitzer Prize for criticism for "the whole body of his critical work." Kerr's reviewing career began when he was 13, critiquing films for the Evanston Review. After his education in drama at Northwestern University, Evanston, he joined the drama department at Catholic University of America, Washington, D.C., and began directing, writing, and adapting plays. After the musical comedy Count Me In, on which Kerr had collaborated, had a short run on Broadway in 1942, he was encouraged to continue writing. Several other modest hits followed, some co-written with his wife, Jean. He also directed on Broadway. Kerr had become the critic for Commonweal in 1949 and in 1951 moved to the New York Herald Tribune. When that paper closed (1966), he went to the New York Times, where he remained until his retirement in 1983. Kerr continued to write occasional pieces for the Times and was the author of 10 books. In 1990 the restored Ritz Theatre was renamed the Walter Kerr Theatre in his honour, and on the evening after his death was announced, lights on Broadway were dimmed briefly in tribute.

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