George Axelrod (June 9, 1922 â€" June 21, 2003) was an American
screenwriter, producer, playwright and film director, best known for
his play, The Seven Year Itch (1952), which was adapted into a movie
of the same name starring Marilyn Monroe. He was nominated for an
Academy Award for his 1961 adaptation of Truman Capote's Breakfast at
Tiffany's and also adapted Richard Condon's The Manchurian Candidate
(1962).Axelrod was born in New York City, the son of Beatrice
Carpenter, a silent film actress, and Herman Axelrod, a Columbia
graduate who had worked on the school's annual Varsity Show with Oscar
Hammerstein and who later went into real estate. His father was
Russian Jewish and his mother was of Scottish and English descent. He
was the father of lawyer Peter Axelrod; Steven Axelrod, painting
contractor and writer; Nina Axelrod, actress and stepfather of
screenwriter Jonathan Axelrod (who married the actress Illeana
Douglas). He was a grandfather of actor Taliesin Jaffe.Early in his
career, Axelrod worked in summer stock theater as a stage manager and
an occasional actor. During World War II, he was a member of the Army
Signal Corps. When he returned to civilian life, he wrote for The
Shadow, Midnight, Grand Ole Opry, and other radio programs. With the
advent of television, he wrote for that medium, too, eventually
working on more than 400 TV and radio scripts. Comedians for whom he
wrote included Jerry Lewis and Dean Martin Axelrod wrote the 1952
stage comedy, The Seven Year Itch, a risqué social satire about a
middle-class man who has an affair while his wife and children are on
vacation. The Seven Year Itch was first presented by Courtney Burr and
Elliot Nugent at the Fulton Theatre, New York City, on July 15,
1952.Axelrod's overnight success prompted him to write a seriocomic
teleplay, Confessions of a Nervous Man, starring Art Carney as a
playwright waiting anxiously in a Theater District bar for the
newspaper reviews of his first play to hit the streets. Based on his
own experiences on the opening night of The Seven Year Itch, the
one-hour play was presented as the November 30, 1953 episode of Studio
One. He appeared on television himself occasionally as a guest
panelist on What's My Line?
screenwriter, producer, playwright and film director, best known for
his play, The Seven Year Itch (1952), which was adapted into a movie
of the same name starring Marilyn Monroe. He was nominated for an
Academy Award for his 1961 adaptation of Truman Capote's Breakfast at
Tiffany's and also adapted Richard Condon's The Manchurian Candidate
(1962).Axelrod was born in New York City, the son of Beatrice
Carpenter, a silent film actress, and Herman Axelrod, a Columbia
graduate who had worked on the school's annual Varsity Show with Oscar
Hammerstein and who later went into real estate. His father was
Russian Jewish and his mother was of Scottish and English descent. He
was the father of lawyer Peter Axelrod; Steven Axelrod, painting
contractor and writer; Nina Axelrod, actress and stepfather of
screenwriter Jonathan Axelrod (who married the actress Illeana
Douglas). He was a grandfather of actor Taliesin Jaffe.Early in his
career, Axelrod worked in summer stock theater as a stage manager and
an occasional actor. During World War II, he was a member of the Army
Signal Corps. When he returned to civilian life, he wrote for The
Shadow, Midnight, Grand Ole Opry, and other radio programs. With the
advent of television, he wrote for that medium, too, eventually
working on more than 400 TV and radio scripts. Comedians for whom he
wrote included Jerry Lewis and Dean Martin Axelrod wrote the 1952
stage comedy, The Seven Year Itch, a risqué social satire about a
middle-class man who has an affair while his wife and children are on
vacation. The Seven Year Itch was first presented by Courtney Burr and
Elliot Nugent at the Fulton Theatre, New York City, on July 15,
1952.Axelrod's overnight success prompted him to write a seriocomic
teleplay, Confessions of a Nervous Man, starring Art Carney as a
playwright waiting anxiously in a Theater District bar for the
newspaper reviews of his first play to hit the streets. Based on his
own experiences on the opening night of The Seven Year Itch, the
one-hour play was presented as the November 30, 1953 episode of Studio
One. He appeared on television himself occasionally as a guest
panelist on What's My Line?
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