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 on 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 autob ...

ist.

Life

Kathryn Anderson was born in San Francisco in 1908. Her parents moved to America in the late 1800s which made her a native-born American. 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. Mama was based on her grandmother. 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 observations ...

's 1944 play '' I Remember Mama''. In 1948, a film version of the play was released by

RKO Pictures RKO Radio Pictures Inc., commonly known as RKO Pictures or simply RKO, is an American film production and distribution company, historically one of the major film studios, "Big Five" film studios of Cinema of the United States, Hollywood's Clas ...

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 Classical Hollywood cinema, the Golden Age of Hollywood. She is best known for her comedic roles, though she perf ...

as Mama and

Barbara Bel Geddes Barbara Bel Geddes (October 31, 1922 – August 8, 2005) was an American stage and screen Actor, actress, artist, and children's author whose career spanned almost 5 decades. She was best known for her starring role as Miss Ellie Ewing in th ...

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 *Maternal uncle, in some parts of South Asia Places * Mama, Russia, an urban-type settlement in the Mam ...

'', 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 show, television series ''Mama (American TV ...

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 A ...

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

Celeste Holm Celeste Holm (April 29, 1917 – July 15, 2012) was an American 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 the Stable'' (1949) and ''A ...

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 filmmaker. Recognised as one of the greatest European actresses of all time, Ullmann is known as the muse and frequent collaborator of filmmaker Ingmar Bergman, whom she date ...

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
* {{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 Memoirists from California