Kathryn McLean (née Anderson) (March 20, 1908 – May 15, 1966), best known by her pen name Kathryn Forbes, was an American writer and

memoir A memoir (; , ) is any nonfiction narrative writing based in the author's personal memories. The assertions made in the work are thus understood to be factual. While memoir has historically been defined as a subcategory of biography or autobi ...

ist.

Life

Kathryn Anderson was born in San Francisco in 1908. Her grandmother emigrated to California from Norway in the late 19th century; both of Anderson's parents were native-born Americans. Kathryn married Robert McLean, a carpenter, with whom she had two sons.

Work

Forbes was a radio scriptwriter before she began writing short stories. ''Mama's Bank Account'', her best-known work, was published in 1943 and revolved around the daily struggles and aspirations of a Norwegian family living in San Francisco in the 1910s. Forbes' book served as the inspiration for

John Van Druten John William Van Druten (1 June 190119 December 1957) was an English playwright and theatre director. He began his career in London, and later moved to America, becoming a U.S. citizen. He was known for his plays of witty and urbane observation ...

's 1944 play '' I Remember Mama''. In 1948, a

film version A film adaptation is the transfer of a work or story, in whole or in part, to a feature film. Although often considered a type of derivative work, film adaptation has been conceptualized recently by academic scholars such as Robert Stam as a dia ...

of the play was released by

RKO Pictures RKO Radio Pictures Inc., commonly known as RKO Pictures or simply RKO, was an American film production and distribution company, one of the "Big Five" film studios of Hollywood's Golden Age. The business was formed after the Keith-Albee-Orphe ...

and starred

Irene Dunne Irene Dunne (born Irene Marie Dunn; December 20, 1898 – September 4, 1990) was an American actress who appeared in films during the Golden Age of Hollywood. She is best known for her comedic roles, though she performed in films of other gen ...

as Mama and

Barbara Bel Geddes Barbara Bel Geddes (October 31, 1922 – August 8, 2005) was an American stage and screen actress, artist, and children's author whose career spanned almost five decades. She was best known for her starring role as Miss Ellie Ewing in the t ...

as her daughter, an aspiring writer. ''

Mama Mama(s) or Mamma or Momma may refer to: Roles *Mother, a female parent * Mama-san, in Japan and East Asia, a woman in a position of authority *Mamas, a name for female associates of the Hells Angels Places *Mama, Russia, an urban-type settlement ...

'', a television series based on the film, was broadcast on CBS from July 1, 1949, to March 17, 1957, and starred

Peggy Wood Mary Margaret Wood (February 9, 1892 – March 18, 1978) was an American actress of stage, film, and television. She is best remembered for her performance as the title character in the CBS television series ''Mama'' (1949–1957), for which sh ...

as Mama. Forbes' novel was twice turned into a stage musical. The first, adapted by

Neal Du Brock Neal Du Brock directed the world-premieres of many important plays including Edward Albee's Box (play) and Lanford Wilson's Lemon Sky (starring Christopher Walken and Charles Durning). He worked for many years at the Studio Theater and Studio Are ...

and John Clifton, opened in Buffalo, New York in 1972 with

Celeste Holm Celeste Holm (April 29, 1917 – July 15, 2012) was an American stage, film and television actress. Holm won an Academy Award for her performance in Elia Kazan's ''Gentleman's Agreement'' (1947), and was nominated for her roles in ''Come to th ...

in the role of Mama. In 1979, Richard Rodgers wrote the music for the second musical version, for which Norwegian actress

Liv Ullmann Liv Johanne Ullmann (born 16 December 1938) is a Norwegian actress and film director. Recognised as one of the greatest European actresses of all time, Ullmann is known as the muse and frequent partner of filmmaker Ingmar Bergman. She acted in m ...

played the role of Mama. In 1947, Forbes published ''Transfer Point'', regarding the daughter of divorced parents. Unlike ''Mama's Bank Account'', which drew on the experiences of her Norwegian-born maternal grandmother, Annie Lund (1849-1928), this novel was closer to Forbes' actual childhood. Forbes moved to an apartment in San Francisco to be near her physician for her chronic emphysema. She died on May 15, 1966. The Kathryn Forbes McLean Memorial Fund was created shortly after her death to provide funds for improvements to the library which she frequented.

References

External links

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Photo of Kathryn Forbes

Kathryn Forbes
findagrave {{DEFAULTSORT:Forbes, Kathryn 1908 births 1966 deaths 20th-century American memoirists American people of Norwegian descent Burials at Holy Cross Cemetery (Colma, California) Writers from San Francisco American women short story writers American women memoirists 20th-century American women writers 20th-century American short story writers