Paul Francis Schmidt (January 29, 1934 – February 19, 1999) was an American translator, poet, playwright, and essayist.
Biography
He graduated from
Nashua High School in 1951,
Colgate University
Colgate University is a private liberal arts college in Hamilton, New York. The college was founded in 1819 as the Baptist Education Society of the State of New York and operated under that name until 1823, when it was renamed Hamilton Theologi ...
in 1955, and studied at
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...
.
He studied mime with
Marcel Marceau
Marcel Marceau (; born Marcel Mangel; 22 March 1923 – 22 September 2007) was a French actor and mime artist most famous for his stage persona, "Bip the Clown". He referred to mime as the "art of silence", and he performed professionally worldw ...
and acting with
Jacques Charon
Jacques Charon (27 February 1920 – 15 October 1975) was a French actor and film director.
Born in Paris, Charon trained at the Conservatoire national supérieur d'art dramatique (CNSAD) and made his début at the Comédie-Française in 1941. Du ...
.
He served in the
U.S. Army
The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cl ...
Intelligence, from 1958 to 1960.
Schmidt was professor at the
University of Texas at Austin
The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 1883 and is the oldest institution in the University of Texas System. With 40,916 undergraduate students, 11,075 ...
, from 1967 to 1976. He also taught at the
Yale School of Drama
The David Geffen School of Drama at Yale University is a graduate professional school of Yale University, located in New Haven, Connecticut. Founded in 1924 as the Department of Drama in the School of Fine Arts, the school provides training in e ...
.
He translated Euripides, Chekhov,
Velimir Khlebnikov
Viktor Vladimirovich Khlebnikov, better known by the pen name Velimir Khlebnikov ( rus, Велими́р Хле́бников, p=vʲɪlʲɪˈmʲir ˈxlʲɛbnʲɪkəf; – 28 June 1922) was a Russian poet and playwright, a central part of th ...
, Brecht, Genet, Gogol, Marivaux, and Mayakovsky.
He wrote three plays, one of which, ''Black Sea Follies'' won the
Helen Hayes Award
The Helen Hayes Awards are theater awards recognizing excellence in professional theater in the Washington, D.C. area since 1983. The awards are named in tribute of Helen Hayes, who is also known as the "First Lady of American Theatre." They ar ...
, and the
Joseph Kesselring Prize
Joseph Otto Kesselring (July 21, 1902 – November 5, 1967) was an American playwright who was best known for writing '' Arsenic and Old Lace'', a hit on Broadway from 1939 to 1944 and in other countries as well.
Biography
He was born in ...
for best play.
Schmidt's work was profiled in ''
The New York Review of Books
''The New York Review of Books'' (or ''NYREV'' or ''NYRB'') is a semi-monthly magazine with articles on literature, culture, economics, science and current affairs. Published in New York City, it is inspired by the idea that the discussion of i ...
''.
He was married to
Stockard Channing
Stockard Channing (born Susan Antonia Williams Stockard; February 13, 1944) is an American actress. She is known for playing Betty Rizzo in the film '' Grease'' (1978) and First Lady Abbey Bartlet in the NBC television series ''The West Wing'' ( ...
.
He is buried at
Green-Wood Cemetery
Green-Wood Cemetery is a cemetery in the western portion of Brooklyn, New York City. The cemetery is located between South Slope/ Greenwood Heights, Park Slope, Windsor Terrace, Borough Park, Kensington, and Sunset Park, and lies several bl ...
, Brooklyn, New York.
Bibliography
*''Night Life'', Painted Leaf Press, 1996,
*''Winter Solstice'', Painted Leaf Press, 1996,
Translations
*''Arthur Rimbaud: Complete Works'', 1975; HarperPerennial, 2000,
*''Meyerhold at work'', University of Texas Press, 1980,
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*
*
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Critical studies and reviews of Schmidt's work
*
*
;The Plays of Anton Chekhov
*
References
External links
PAUL SCHMIDT WORKS WELL WITH GENIUSES''The Stray Dog Cabaret'' translated by Paul Schmidt*http://broadwayworld.com/people/Paul_Schmidt/
{{DEFAULTSORT:Schmidt, Paul
1934 births
1999 deaths
20th-century American dramatists and playwrights
20th-century American male writers
20th-century American poets
20th-century American translators
American male poets
American male dramatists and playwrights
People from Brooklyn
United States Army soldiers
Colgate University alumni
Harvard University alumni
Poets from New York (state)
University of Texas at Austin faculty
Yale University faculty
Russian–English translators
Burials at Green-Wood Cemetery