Background

Walter Francis Kerr was born on July 8, 1913 in Evanston, Illinois, United States. Son of Walter Sylvester and Esther (Daugherty) Kerr.

Education

Walter earned from Northwestern University his Bachelor of Arts in Speech in 1937 and a Master of Arts in 1938. He also received a Doctor of Humane Letters from Northwestern University in 1962.

Career

Kerr’s career as a critic began when he was only 13 and wrote film reviews for his hometown Paper, the Evanston Review. in 1938 joined the drama department at the Catholic University of America in Washington, DC. He taught, wrote and directed plays there until 1949. Kerr wrote several moderately successful plays in the 1940s, including "Stardust" and "Sing Out, Sweet Land: 4 Musical Biography of American Song". Kerr started reviewing plays in New York in1950 for the Jesuit publication Commonweal and in 1951 joined the New York Herald Tribune. In 1966 Kerr joined the New York Times. He served on the Pulitzer committee. Kerr also wrote several books on theater and criticism, most notably "How Not to Write a Play", "The Decline of Pleasure" and "The Silent Clowns". Kerr retired from the New York Times in 1983, but occasionally contributed articles. He died on October 9, 1996 (aged 83) in Dobbs Ferry, New York, United States.

Achievements

• Kerr was a recipient of the George Jean Nathan award in 1964. He also received Dineen award from the National Catholic Theatre Conference in 1966, Iona award in 1970, Campion award in 1971 and the award from the National Institute Arts and Letters in 1972. Kerr won a Pulitzer Prize for Criticism in 1978 for "articles on the theater". In 1983 he was inducted into the American Theater Hall of Fame. In 1990, the refurbished Ritz Theater was renamed the Walter Kerr Theater. When Kerr died, all Broadway theaters dimmed their lights that night as a tribute.

Works

More photos

• book

  • The Decline of Pleasure
  • Time Reading Program: The Horse's Mouth, The Decline of Pleasure, Disraeli, The Man of the Renaissance [4 Book Set]
  • Theatre in Spite of Itself
  • Thirty Plays Hath November: Pain and Pleasure in the Contemporary Theater
  • God on the Gymnasium Floor and Other Theatrical Adventures
  • The Silent Clowns
  • Journey to the Center of the Theater
  • Tragedy and Comedy
  • How Not to Write a Play
  • Stardust

Membership

He has been a member of New York Critics' Circle (president 1955-1957), Society Professional Journalists. Clubs: Players (honorary).

Connections

Walter married Jean Collins on August 9, 1943. She was also a writer. Together, they wrote the musical Goldilocks (1958), which won two Tony Awards. They also collaborated on Touch and Go (1949) and King of Hearts (1954). They had 6 children: Christopher, Colin, John, Gilbert, Gregory, Katharine.

Father:

Walter Sylvester Kerr

Mother:

Esther (Daugherty) Kerr

Spouse:

Jean (Collins) Kerr

child:

Christopher Kerr

child:

Colin Kerr

child:

John Kerr

child:

Gilbert Kerr

child:

Gregory Kerr

child:

Katharine Kerr