Robert Anderson,
the author of 1953's gay-themed play Tea and
Sympathy, died at his Manhattan home Monday at the
age of 91.
The play centered
around the relationship between the wife of a
headmaster at a New England prep school and a student
suspected of being gay. Deborah Kerr starred in the
stage production as well as the 1956 film version,
which featured a screenplay by Anderson and direction by
Vincente Minnelli.
Anderson wrote
many other Broadway plays, including You Know I
Can't Hear You When the Water's Running; Silent
Night, Lonely Night; and I Never Sang for
My Father. He also wrote novels and screenplays. He
received an Academy Award nomination for
1959's The Nun's Story.
Anderson was born
in New York and was married twice, once to actress
Teresa Wright. (Neal Broverman, Advocate.com)