Garson Kanin was born on November 24, 1912 in Rochester, New York. When he was 12 his family moved to Brooklyn where his father was employed as a builder.

Upon leaving James Madison High School after two years attendance, young Kanin held jobs as a messenger for Western Union, and as a salesman in a store. Using the knowledge of music he had acquired in his earlier study of the saxophone and clarinet, he in time found a position with a jazz band. Later he played as a comedian in vaudeville and performed various small parts in radio programs (among them The March of Time) and in summer theaters, mainly in resorts in New York’s Catskill Mountains.

After two years at New York’s American Academy of Dramatic Arts he was given his first Broadway role in Little Ol’ Boy (1933). He appeared in many plays following this debut, including Three Men on a Horse (‘35) and Boy Meets Girl (‘35)

“Garson Kanin works wonders with the musical kidding,� said the New York Evening Journal about his performance in Boy Meets Girl.

Kanin assisted producer George Abbot in directorial work on Three Men on a Horse, Boy Meets Girl, Brother Rat, and Room Service. He also directed Hitch Your Wagon (‘36) and Too Many Heroes (‘37). Kanin went to Hollywood where he was successful in directing films for RKO such as Next Time I Marry, Bachelor Mother, My Favorite Wife and Tom, Dick and Harry.

From 1941 to 1945 he was in the Army, starting out as a private in the Signal Corps and ending up as a captain and making official military films. One of them co-directed by Carol Reed, The True Glory (1945), won an Academy Award for Best Documentary.

In 1946 he was back on Broadway as a director. He wrote and directed Born Yesterday, which opened on Broadway, February 4, 1946 and ran for 1,642 performances. It is generally regarded as his most successful work.

He married actress Ruth Gordon (widow of Gregory Kelly) on December 4, 1942. She collaborated with him in writing some film scenarios. Ruth Gordon died on August 28, 1985. In 1990 Kanin married renowned Broadway actress Marian Seldes.

On alternating between Broadway and Hollywood, Kanin said, “Making the transition from stage to screen requires only a physical adjustment.� Kanin was a member of the Screen Directors Guild, the Writer’s Guild, the Dramatist Guild, The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, and the American Veterans Committee.

The director-playwright was described by a New York News reporter “as a quiet talker … the inner force that has driven him to success is scarcely visible in his relaxed moments.�

His books include A Gift of Time and Tracy & Hepburn. Among the films he directed are Adam’s Rib and Pat and Mike.

Garson Kanin died at his home in Manhattan on March 13, 1999.

— Vernon Parker

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