Sherman Yellen (born February 25, 1932,

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

) is an American

playwright A playwright or dramatist is a person who writes plays. Etymology The word "play" is from Middle English pleye, from Old English plæġ, pleġa, plæġa ("play, exercise; sport, game; drama, applause"). The word "wright" is an archaic English ...

screenwriter A screenplay writer (also called screenwriter, scriptwriter, scribe or scenarist) is a writer who practices the craft of screenwriting, writing screenplays on which mass media, such as films, television programs and video games, are based. ...

, and political commentator.

Early life and education

Sherman Yellen was born in 1932 to Nathan and Lillian Yellen. He attended the

High School of Music & Art The High School of Music & Art, informally known as "Music & Art" (or "M&A"), was a public specialized high school located at 443-465 West 135th Street in the borough of Manhattan, New York, from 1936 until 1984. In 1961, Music & Art and the High ...

and graduated from

Bard College Bard College is a private liberal arts college in Annandale-on-Hudson, New York. The campus overlooks the Hudson River and Catskill Mountains, and is within the Hudson River Historic District—a National Historic Landmark. Founded in 1860, ...

in 1953. At Bard, Yellen studied creative writing with Texas novelist William Humphrey, was named John Bard Scholar in his sophomore year and received the Wilton E. Lockwood Award for Literature upon graduation. In later years he received the Charles Flint Kellogg Award in Arts and Letters. He attended graduate school at

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

where he studied 18th century

English Literature English literature is literature written in the English language from United Kingdom, its crown dependencies, the Republic of Ireland, the United States, and the countries of the former British Empire. ''The Encyclopaedia Britannica'' defines E ...

Career

Yellen's first play was ''New Gods For Lovers'', which was produced at the HB Playhouse in New York. This play, entered in a playwriting competition, won the Hallmark Award, and he began to write

television Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertisin ...

drama Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance: a play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a genre of poetry in general, the dramatic mode has been ...

s for the Hallmark Hall of Fame. Yellen also wrote ''

Beauty and the Beast ''Beauty and the Beast'' (french: La Belle et la Bête) is a fairy tale written by French novelist Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve and published in 1740 in ''La Jeune Américaine et les contes marins'' (''The Young American and Marine ...

,'' and ''

An Early Frost ''An Early Frost'' is a 1985 American made-for-television drama film. It was the first major film with major motion picture stars, Aidan Quinn, Gena Rowlands, Ben Gazzara, and Sylvia Sidney, broadcast on a major television network, NBC, to deal ...

,'' television films for

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...

''.'' His

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...

television drama, ''Day Before Battle'', was written in collaboration with his friend, playwright

Peter Stone Peter Stone may refer to: *Pete Stone, Australian footballer in the 1956 Summer Olympics * Peter G. Stone (born 1957), British archaeologist *Peter Stone (cricketer) (born 1938), New Zealand cricketer *Peter Stone (professor) (born 1971), professo ...

, and appeared on '' Studio One''. Yellen also wrote adaptations of '' Great Expectations'', '' Dr.Jekyl and Mr. Hyde'', ''

Phantom of the Opera ''The Phantom of the Opera'' (french: Le Fantôme de l'Opéra) is a novel by French author Gaston Leroux. It was first published as a serial in from 23 September 1909 to 8 January 1910, and was released in volume form in late March 1910 by Pierr ...

.'' Yellen also wrote for the

PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcasting, public broadcaster and Non-commercial activity, non-commercial, Terrestrial television, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly fu ...

series ''

The Adams Chronicles ''The Adams Chronicles'' is a thirteen-episode miniseries by PBS that aired in 1976 to commemorate the American Bicentennial. Synopsis The series chronicles the story of the Adams political family over a 150-year span, including John Adams (dra ...

''. Yellen's work in

Broadway theatre Broadway theatre,Although ''theater'' is generally the spelling for this common noun in the United States (see American and British English spelling differences), 130 of the 144 extant and extinct Broadway venues use (used) the spelling ''Th ...

includes his

Tony Tony may refer to: People and fictional characters * Tony (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters * Gregory Tony (born 1978), American law enforcement officer * Motu Tony (born 1981), New Zealand international rugby leagu ...

-nominated

libretto A libretto (Italian for "booklet") is the text used in, or intended for, an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, masque, oratorio, cantata or Musical theatre, musical. The term ''libretto'' is also sometimes used to refer to the t ...

for the musical, '' The Rothschilds'', with music by

Jerry Bock Jerrold Lewis Bock (November 23, 1928November 3, 2010) was an American musical theater composer. He received the Tony Award for Best Musical and the Pulitzer Prize for Drama with Sheldon Harnick for their 1959 musical ''Fiorello!'' and the Tony ...

and

Sheldon Harnick Sheldon Mayer Harnick (born April 30, 1924) is an American lyricist and songwriter best known for his collaborations with composer Jerry Bock on musicals such as ''Fiorello!'' and '' Fiddler on the Roof''. Early life Sheldon Mayer Harnick was ...

; ''Rex'', a musical about the life and loves of

Henry VIII Henry VIII (28 June 149128 January 1547) was King of England from 22 April 1509 until his death in 1547. Henry is best known for his six marriages, and for his efforts to have his first marriage (to Catherine of Aragon) annulled. His disa ...

with music by Richard Rodgers and ''Strangers'', a biographical drama about

Sinclair Lewis Harry Sinclair Lewis (February 7, 1885 – January 10, 1951) was an American writer and playwright. In 1930, he became the first writer from the United States (and the first from the Americas) to receive the Nobel Prize in Literature, which was ...

. His satirical sketch, ''Delicious Indignities'', appeared in the erotic revue, ''

Oh! Calcutta! ''Oh! Calcutta!'' is an avant-garde, risque theatrical revue created by British drama critic Kenneth Tynan. The show, consisting of sketches on sex-related topics, debuted Off-Broadway in 1969 and then in the West End in 1970. It ran in Lond ...

'', which featured sketches from

Sam Shepard Samuel Shepard Rogers III (November 5, 1943 – July 27, 2017) was an American actor, playwright, author, screenwriter, and director whose career spanned half a century. He won 10 Obie Awards for writing and directing, the most by any write ...

John Lennon John Winston Ono Lennon (born John Winston Lennon; 9 October 19408 December 1980) was an English singer, songwriter, musician and peace activist who achieved worldwide fame as founder, co-songwriter, co-lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist of ...

Samuel Beckett Samuel Barclay Beckett (; 13 April 1906 – 22 December 1989) was an Irish novelist, dramatist, short story writer, theatre director, poet, and literary translator. His literary and theatrical work features bleak, impersonal and tragicomic expe ...

, and others. He later incorporated the music of popular songwriter Jimmy McHugh into a new musical about young journalists in Paris in 1927, ''Lucky in the Rain'', which had a successful run at the Goodspeed Opera. His collaboration with composer

Wally Harper Wally Harper (c. 1941 – October 8, 2004) was an American musical director, composer, conductor, dance arranger, and musical supervisor for many Broadway and Off-Broadway productions. For three decades from the mid-1970s, he worked with Barbara ...

on ''Say Yes'' created a light hearted-musical comedy about the

1939 New York World's Fair The 1939–40 New York World's Fair was a world's fair held at Flushing Meadows–Corona Park in Queens, New York, United States. It was the second-most expensive American world's fair of all time, exceeded only by St. Louis's Louisiana Purchas ...

, produced in 2000 for the Berkshire Theatre Festival. In ''Josephine Tonight!'', a musical biography of the early life of

Josephine Baker Josephine Baker (born Freda Josephine McDonald; naturalised French Joséphine Baker; 3 June 1906 – 12 April 1975) was an American-born French dancer, singer and actress. Her career was centered primarily in Europe, mostly in her adopted Fran ...

produced by

Theatre Building Chicago The Theatre Building Chicago is the former name of a theater building located in Chicago's Lakeview neighborhood. The Theatre Building Chicago once referred to both the three theatres that are in the space, as well as the producing organization t ...

, Yellen was librettist and lyricist to composer Harper. "Josephine Tonight!" was recently revived as "Blackbird" and was staged in Washington, D.C. and Florida. Yellen's most recent straight play was ''December Fools'', a comedy-drama about a composer's widow and her daughter, was produced by Abingdon Theatre Company in 2006. The same year, ''Josephine Tonight'' was produced by

. Yellen has written numerous op-ed columns for ''

HuffPost ''HuffPost'' (formerly ''The Huffington Post'' until 2017 and sometimes abbreviated ''HuffPo'') is an American progressive news website, with localized and international editions. The site offers news, satire, blogs, and original content, and ...

'', focusing on culture and American politics from a left-wing perspective.

Personal life

As an undergraduate at

, Yellen met Joan Fuhr. The couple wed after their graduation and have two sons, Nicholas and Christopher. Yellen lives on the

Upper East Side The Upper East Side, sometimes abbreviated UES, is a neighborhood in the borough of Manhattan in New York City, bounded by 96th Street to the north, the East River to the east, 59th Street to the south, and Central Park/Fifth Avenue to the wes ...

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

Film and television credits

* ''Not a Penny More, Not a Penny Less'' (TV movie) - Writer (teleplay) 1990 * ''I'll Take Manhattan'' (TV mini-series) - Writer (writer) 1987 * ''

'' (TV movie) - Writer (story) 1985 * ''The Phantom of the Opera'' (1983 TV movie) - Writer (writer) 1983 * ''The Last Giraffe'' (TV movie) - Writer (writer) 1979 * ''

Hallmark Hall of Fame ''Hallmark Hall of Fame'', originally called ''Hallmark Television Playhouse'', is an anthology program on American television, sponsored by Hallmark Cards, a Kansas City-based greeting card company. The longest-running prime-time series in t ...

'' (TV series) - Writer (1 episode, 1976): "

" * ''

'' (PBS Series) - Writer 1976 * ''Great Expectations'' (TV movie) - Writer (writer) 1974 * ''Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde'' (TV movie) - Writer (writer) 1973 * ''

'' - Writer (contributions) 1972 * ''The Iron Horse'' (TV series) - Writer (1 episode, 1967): "Welcome for the General" * ''12 O'Clock High'' (TV series) - Writer (1 episode, 1965): "Target 802" * ''Studio One in Hollywood'' (TV series) - Writer (1 episode, 1956): "A Day Before Battle"

Theatre credits

* ''Josephine Tonight'' (revised five character version) Metro Stage, Written by Sherman Yellen – 2012 * ''December Fools'' (Original, play) Written by Sherman Yellen – 2006 * ''Josephine Tonight! (''Original TBC Chicago studio production of musical) Book and Lyrics by Sherman Yellen - 2006 * ''This Fair World'' (Original, Musical) Book by Sherman Yellen * ''Say Yes!'' aka ''This Fair World'' (Original, Musical) Book by Sherman Yellen - 2000 * ''Lucky in the Rain ''(Original, Musical) Book by Sherman Yellen ''- 1997 '' * ''Strangers'' (Original, Play) Written by Sherman Yellen ''- 1979'' *''

'' (Revival, Musical, Revue) - Sketch contribution ("Delicious Indignities") by Sherman Yellen - 1976–89 * '' Rex'' (Original, Musical) - Book by Sherman Yellen - 1976; revised version Toronto Civic Light Opera Company 2010 * '' The Rothschilds'' (Original, Musical) - Book by Sherman Yellen - 1970-72

Awards

* Hallmark Award - ''New Gods for Lovers'' * Christopher Award - ''

'' ("

" episode) * Emmy Award - ''

'' * Emmy Award - ''

External links

Sherman Yellen papers, 1957-2015
held by the Billy Rose Theatre Division,

New York Public Library for the Performing Arts The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Center, at 40 Lincoln Center Plaza, is located in Manhattan, New York City, at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts on the Upper West Side, between the Metro ...

. * *
Sherman Yellen on The Huffington Post

Sherman Yellen on The Environmentalist

Interview with Sherman Yellen on Theatre in Chicago

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Yellen, Sherman Writers from New York City 20th-century American dramatists and playwrights 1932 births Bard College alumni Living people Environmental bloggers Primetime Emmy Award winners