Clifford Odets

American playwright. Born in Philadelphia to Jewish immigrants, he dropped out of high school in New York to become an actor, and eventually began writing plays. In 1931, he joined the Group Theater, a progressive theater group formed during the economic depression. In 1935, he gained fame when his one-act play Waiting for Lefty (which won a contest) was performed after he had written a hastily written play based on his research into a taxi workers' strike. In the same year, his previous work Awake and Sing, about a Jewish worker's family, was also performed, and he became one of the group's leading writers, with many of his plays being performed thereafter. His 1937 work The Golden Boy, about the tragedy of a young boxer who chases his dream of success but is crushed by the pressures of society, was well received and was made into a film (1939), and a musical version (1964) after World War II was also a hit. During that time, he moved to Hollywood, where he wrote screenplays for films such as The General Dies at Dawn (1936), and helped run the theater company. After her return to the theater world, her masterpieces include "Country Girl" (1950) and "Blooming Peach" (1954), both of which were made into films (with the Japanese title "Applause").

[Yasuna Mori October 20, 2015]

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

アメリカの劇作家。ユダヤ系移民の子としてフィラデルフィアに生まれ、ニューヨークの高校を中退して俳優となり、やがて劇作も手がける。1931年、不況下に結成された進歩的演劇集団「グループ・シアター」に参加。1935年、タクシー労働者のストライキに取材し急ぎ執筆した一幕劇『レフティを待ちつつ』（懸賞当選作）が上演されて名をあげた。同年、ユダヤ人労働者一家を扱った前作『醒(さ)めて歌え』も取り上げられ、以後いくつもの作品が上演されて、同集団の代表的作家となる。1937年の、成功の夢を追い、社会の重圧に押しつぶされる若いボクサーの悲劇『ゴールデン・ボーイ』が好評で、映画化（1939）され、第二次世界大戦後のミュージカル版（1964）もヒットした。その間、ハリウッドに移り、映画『将軍暁(あかつき)に死す』（1936）などのシナリオを書き、劇団の経営を助けた。劇壇復帰後の秀作には映画化（邦題『喝采(かっさい)』）された『田舎(いなか)娘』（1950）、『花咲く桃』（1954）などがある。

［森　康尚　2015年10月20日］

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