Background
Chayefsky was born on January 29, 1923 in Bronx, New York, United States; the son of Harry and Gussie (Stuchevsky) Chayefsky.
Claudette Colbert en Paddy Chayefsky.
Paddy Chayefsky, left, and Arthur Hiller on the set of The Hospital in 1971.
Writer Paddy Chayefsky and director Delbert Mann discuss the script of Marty, 1955.
Chayefsky was born on January 29, 1923 in Bronx, New York, United States; the son of Harry and Gussie (Stuchevsky) Chayefsky.
Chayefsky attended DeWitt Clinton High School. He graduated from City College of New York with a Bachelor of Science degree in 1943.
Chayefsky joined the United States Army in 1943. He served in an infantry division in Germany, where Paddy earned the nickname "Paddy" from his fellow soldiers after he kept asking to be excused to attend mass. Chayefsky was injured in the war after stepping on a landmine. While convalescing at an Army hospital in Cirencester, England, he wrote a military musical called "No T.O. for Love".
On his return to New York City he worked as a printer’s apprentice, then began writing radio adaptations for "Theatre Guild of the Air", 1951-1952 and mystery dramas for television series. Among his television dramas of the early 1950's were ''The Mother'', ''Holiday Song", ''The Big Deal".
Writing for the theater, Chayefsky made his Broadway debut in 1956 with "Middle of the Night". His other Broadway productions included ''The Tenth Man", ''Gideon'' and ''The Passion of Josef D''. A later play, ''The Latent Heterosexual" was staged in Texas, starring Zero Mostel.
Chayefsky tackled a new literary form later in his life, publishing his first novel "Altered States" in 1979. He also created a movie adaptation of the science-fiction book but had trouble with the production, which was ultimately released in 1980. For about a year and a half before his death, Chayefsky had been working on a political play about the Alger Hiss trial.
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2000
Quotations:
"Artists don't talk about art. Artists talk about work. If I have anything to say to young writers, it's stop thinking of writing as art. Think of it as work".
"Television is god-damned amusement park. Television is a circus, a carnival, a traveling troupe of acrobats, storytellers, dancers, singers, jugglers, sideshow freaks, lion tamers and football players. We're in the boredom killing business".
"I don't know what's good, or bad, or true. I let God worry about truth. I just want to know the momentary fact of things. Life isn't good, or bad, or true. It's merely factual. It's sensual. It's alive!"
Chayefsky was a member of Dramatists Guild, Screenwriters Guild of America, Writers Guild of America, Screen Actors Guild, American Guild of Variety Artists.
On February 24, 1949 Paddy Chayefsky married Susan Sackler. They have a son.