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| − | [[Image:Paddy Chayefsky NYWTS edited.jpg|thumb|Paddy Chayefsky (1958)]]
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| − | '''Sidney Aaron Chayefski''' (January 29, 1923 – August 1, 1981) known as '''Paddy Chayefsky''' was an acclaimed dramatist and novelist who made a transition from the [[Golden Age of Television|golden age of American live television]] in the 1950s to a successful career as a [[playwright]] and [[screenwriter]].
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| − | == Biography ==
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| − | Born in the [[Bronx, New York]] in 1923 to [[Ukraine|Ukrainian]]
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| − | <ref name=Brady/> [[Jewish]] parents, Chayefsky attended Dewitt Clinton High School, the [[City College of New York]], graduating with a degree in accounting. and then studied languages at [[Fordham University]]. He joined the U.S. Army during World War II, where he received both a [[Purple Heart]] and the nickname Paddy. The nickname happened spontaneously when Chayefsky was awakened at 5am for kitchen duty. He asked to be excused so he could go to Mass. "Yesterday morning you said you were Jewish," said the duty officer. "Yes, but my mother is Irish," said Chayefsky. "Okay, Paddy," said the officer, and the name stuck.<ref>[http://www.amazon.com/gp/reader/0595120296/ref=sib_dp_pt# Considine, Shaun. ''Mad as Hell: The Life and Work of Paddy Chayefsky'', Random House, 1995.]</ref>
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| − | Serving in the 104th Infantry Division in the European Theatre, he was near Aachen, Germany when he was wounded, reportedly by a land mine. Recovering from his injuries in the Army Hospital near Cirencester, England, he wrote the book and lyrics to a musical comedy, ''No T.O. for Love''. First produced in 1945 by the Special Services Unit, the show toured European Army bases for two years. The London opening of ''No T.O. for Love'' at the Scala Theatre in the [[West End theatre|West End]] marked the beginning of Chayefsky's theatrical career. During the London production of this musical, Chayefsky encountered [[Joshua Logan]], a future collaborator, and [[Garson Kanin]], who invited Chayefsky to join him in working on a documentary of the Allied invasion, ''The True Glory''.
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| − | Returning to the United States, Chayefsky worked in his uncle's print shop, Regal Press, an experience which provided a background for his later teleplay, ''A Printer's Measure''. Kanin enabled Chayefsky to spend time working on his second play, ''Put Them All Together'' (later known as ''M is for Mother''), but it was never produced. Chayefsky was married to Susan Sackler in February 1949, and their son Dan was born six years later. Despite an alleged affair with [[Kim Novak]], Paddy and Susan Chayefsky remained together until his death.
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| − | Chayefsky died in New York City of cancer in August 1981 at the age of 58, and was interred in Kensico Cemetery in Valhalla, Westchester County, New York.
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| − | ==Radio==
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| − | In the late 1940s, Chayefsky began working full time on short stories and radio scripts, and during this period, he was a gagwriter for radio host [[Robert Q. Lewis]]. In 1951-52, Chayefsky did several adaptations for radio's ''[[The United States Steel Hour|Theater Guild on the Air]]'': ''The Meanest Man in the World'' (with [[James Stewart]]), ''Tommy'' (with [[Van Heflin]] and [[Ruth Gordon]]) and ''Over 21'' (with [[Wally Cox]]).
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| − | ==Television==
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| − | His writing for television began with a 1949 adaptation of [[Budd Schulberg]]'s ''[[What Makes Sammy Run?]]'' for producer [[Fred Coe]]'s ''[[The Philco Television Playhouse]]'', followed by an episode of ''Danger'' (1952) and an episode of ''The Gulf Playhouse'' (1953). ''[[Marty]]'', telecast May 24, 1953 during the fifth season of ''The Philco Television Playhouse'', featured [[Rod Steiger]] in the title role. The production, the actors and Chayefsky's naturalistic dialogue received much critical acclaim and introduced a new approach to live television drama. Martin Gottfried wrote, "He was a successful writer, the most successful graduate of television's [[slice of life]] school of naturalism."<ref>[http://books.google.com/books?id=g3uY59k0XNUC&pg=PA171&lpg=PA171&dq=chayefsky+%22slice+of+life%22&source=web&ots=3P3kcaxW5U&sig=tVpznjStwcPDjjfB8K8oIDWgZdU&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=11&ct=result Gottfried, Martin. ''All His Jazz'', Da Capo, 2003.]</ref>
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| − | Chayefsky gained the reputation as the pack leader of [[kitchen sink realism]] on television.<ref>[http://books.google.com/books?id=mnWfAKizTTAC&pg=PA279&lpg=PA279&dq=chayefsky+%22kitchen+sink%22&source=web&ots=o7ahC6-6m8&sig=DqV_NAEY_kd8DUP86NcQ6u59VpM&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=8&ct=result Rutherford, Paul. ''When Television Was Young''. University of Toronto Press, 1990.]</ref> Between 1949 and 1955, he delivered a dozen teleplays to Coe, including ''The Bachelor Party'' and ''The Catered Affair''. One of these teleplays, ''Mother'' (April 4, 1954), received a new production October 24, 1994 on ''Great Performances'' with Anne Bancroft in the title role. Curiously, original teleplays from the 1950s Golden Age are almost never revived for new TV productions, so the 1994 production of ''Mother'' was a conspicuous rarity.
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| − | The seventh season of ''Philco Television Playhouse'' began September 19, 1954 with E. G. Marshall and Eva Marie Saint in Chayefsky's ''Middle of the Night'', a play which moved to Broadway 15 months later and was filmed by Columbia Pictures in 1959.
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| − | Following the ''Philco'' years, Chayefsky's ''The Great American Hoax'' was seen May 15, 1957 during the second season of ''[[The 20th Century Fox Hour]]''. This was actually a rewrite of his earlier Fox film, ''As Young as You Feel'' (1951) with [[Monty Woolley]] and [[Marilyn Monroe]]. In recent years, ''The Great American Hoax'' received showings on the FX channel when Fox did restorations of ''The 20th Century Fox Hour'' episodes and brought them back to TV under the title ''Fox Hour of Stars''.
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| − | ==Films==
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| − | [[Image:Paddy Chayefsky.jpg|150px|left|thumb|Paddy Chayefsky at the [[28th Academy Awards]] (1956)]]
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| − | Chayefsky had a unique clause in his ''[[Marty]]'' contract that stated only he could write the screenplay, and the success of the live TV drama starring [[Rod Steiger]] led to a film two years later with [[Ernest Borgnine]] in the title role. The movie won the [[Academy Award for Best Picture]], and Chayefsky received an Academy Award for his screenplay.
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| − | After the success of ''Marty'', he focused on films, scripting ''[[The Goddess]]'', which starred [[Kim Stanley]] (for which he received an Oscar nomination) and ''[[The Bachelor Party]]''. In the 1960s his credits included ''[[The Americanization of Emily]]'', which featured [[James Garner]], [[Julie Andrews]], [[Melvyn Douglas]] and [[James Coburn]]; and ''[[Paint Your Wagon (film)|Paint Your Wagon]]'', a screen vehicle for [[Lee Marvin]]. He won two more Oscars for ''[[The Hospital]]'' (1971) which starred [[George C. Scott]] and [[Diana Rigg]], and ''[[Network (film)|Network]]'' (1976), which featured [[Faye Dunaway]], [[William Holden]], [[Peter Finch]] (who won the Oscar for "Best Actor in a Leading Role") and [[Robert Duvall]] among other cast members. For both of these films Chayefsky received [[Golden Globe]] awards. He was awarded an Oscar for ''[[Network]]'' in the "Best Original Screenplay" category.
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| − | During the 1978 [[Academy Awards|Oscar]] telecast, [[Vanessa Redgrave]] made a [[50th Academy Awards#Redgrave speech|controversial speech]] denouncing the "Zionist hoodlums" who had threatened her (in reference to threats from the [[Jewish Defense League]], identified by the [[FBI]] as a right-wing terrorist group). Two hours later, after no one had commented on her speech, Chayefsky stated his distaste for Redgrave's using the award event to make a political point: "I would like to suggest to Miss Redgrave that her winning an Academy Award is not a pivotal moment in history, does not require a proclamation and a simple 'Thank you' would have sufficed." He received loud applause for his riposte to Redgrave. Later, in an interview, he stated that he was offended by her "cracks about Jews" and about having sat and "praying somebody would say something" and commented only because no one did.<ref name=Brady>Brady, John. ''The Craft of the Screenwriter''. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1981.</ref>
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| − | == Broadway ==
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| − | Chayefsky continued to write for the stage as well as the screen until the late 1960s. After the theatrical version of ''Middle of the Night'' opened on [[Broadway theatre|Broadway]] in 1956 starring [[Edward G. Robinson]] and [[Gena Rowlands]], its success led to a national tour. ''The Tenth Man'' (1959) marked Chayefsky's second Broadway success, garnering [[Tony Awards|Tony]] nominations in 1960 for Best Play, Best Director ([[Tyrone Guthrie]]) and Best Scenic Design. Guthrie received another nomination for Chayefsky's ''[[Gideon (play)|Gideon]]'', as did actor [[Frederic March]]. Chayefsky's final Broadway production, a play based on the life of [[Joseph Stalin]], ''The Passion of Josef D'', was poorly received and ran for only 15 performances.<ref>[http://www.ibdb.com/production.asp?ID=2818 Internet Broadway Database]</ref>
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| − | == Fiction ==
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| − | Inspired by the work of [[John C. Lilly]], Chayefsky spent two years in Boston doing research to write his science fiction novel ''[[Altered States]]'' (HarperCollins, 1978), which he adapted for his last screenplay. In the film Chayefsky is credited under his real first and middle name, Sidney Aaron, because of disputes with director [[Ken Russell]].
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| − | == References ==
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| − | {{reflist}}
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| − | == Listen to ==
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| − | *[http://www.onthemedia.org/stream/ram.py?file=otm/otm102706h.mp3 WNYC: ''On The Media'' audio profile of Paddy Chayefsky, October 27, 2006]
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| − | == External links ==
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| − | * [http://www.nypl.org/research/lpa/the/pdf/THEChaye.pdf Guide to the Paddy Chayefsky Papers, 1907-1998]
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| − | * [http://www.otrsite.com/logs/logt1016.htm Jerry Haendiges Vintage Radio Logs: ''Theater Guild on the Air'']
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| − | * [http://www.museum.tv/archives/etv/C/htmlC/chayefskypa/chayefskypa.htm Museum of Broadcast Communications: Paddy Chayefsky]
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| − | * {{imdb name|id=0154665|name=Paddy Chayefsky}}
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| − | * [http://www.ibdb.com/person.asp?ID=7996 Internet Broadway Database: Paddy Chayefsky]
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| − | [[category:Art, music, literature, sports and leisure]]
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| − | [[category:Writers and poets]]
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| − | {{credits|262570519}}
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