Victor Wolfson (8 March 1909 – May 24, 1990) was an American dramatist, director, writer, producer, and actor.[1][2]
Biography
Poster for a
Federal Theatre Project production of Wolfson's Broadway play Excursion in New Orleans (1937)
Victor Wolfson began his professional career organizing acting clubs for striking coal miners in West Virginia.[3] He soon found his passion for writing and he wrote numerous plays for Broadway, dramas for television and many novels. He wrote professionally until his death.[3] Wolfson attended the first class of the
University of Wisconsin Experimental College, where he founded their theater group, the Experimental College Players.[4]
His life's work was playwriting and he adapted most of his plays from novels. His Broadway productions included the 1937 comedy Excursion, as well as Bitter Stream, adapted from
Fontamara by
Ignazio Silone,[5]Pastoral, The Family, Pride's Crossing, and Seventh Heaven by
Victor Young. His novels included The Lonely Steeple and The Eagle on the Plain and he also wrote for
Harper's Magazine between 1948 and 1960.[6]
In 1961, he wrote several episodes for
ABC's 26-part television series Winston Churchill: The Valiant Years which earned him an
Emmy Award 1960-1961 for Outstanding Writing Achievement in the Documentary Field.[7]
He died, aged 81, in a fire at his home in Wellfleet, Massachusetts, United States [8]
Wolfson's parents, Adolph Wolfson and Rebecca Hochstein Wolfson, who were
Jewish, were political radicals[9] who emigrated from
Russia in 1894 to escape the pervasive
antisemitism and political persecution of the
Tsarist regime. His sister
Theresa Wolfson was an economist and prolific writer.[10]
Filmography
1966 Rings Around the World (documentary) (screenplay / story)