Introduction
Robert Alan Aurthur (June 10, 1922 – November 20, 1978) was an American screenwriter, film director, and film producer.
Early life
Raised in Freeport, he a was pre‐med student at the University of Pennsylvania.Once World War II broke out, he left to join the Marines.
Television
In the early years of television, he wrote for Studio One and then moved on to write episodes of Mister Peepers (1952–53). He followed with teleplays for Campbell Playhouse (1954), Justice (1954), Goodyear Television Playhouse (1953–54) and Producers' Showcase (1955). One of his four 1951-55 plays for Philco Television Playhouse was the Emmy-nominated A Man Is Ten Feet Tall (1955), with Don Murray and Sidney Poitier, which was adapted two years later as the theatrical film, Edge of the City (1957) with Poitier and John Cassavetes.
He wrote two teleplays for Playhouse 90. One of them, A Sound of Different Drummers (3 October 1957), borrowed so heavily from Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451 that Bradbury sued.Aurthur appears with Merle Miller in David Susskind's 2012 documentary about President Truman titled Give 'em Hell, Harry, stating, "Going into a Howard Johnson's was bad enough, but with a President!" They discuss George Marshall, Dwight Eisenhower, and Richard Nixon, as well as their observations on Truman's respect for Marshall.
Film
After 1957, he continued to write screenplays. He was one of the writers on Spring Reunion (1957), notable as Betty Hutton's final film, following with Warlock (1959), and his earlier association with Cassavetes led to script contributions on the actor's directorial debut with Shadows (1959). After an uncredited contribution to Lilith (1964), he scripted John Frankenheimer's Grand Prix (1966).
He wrote and directed The Lost Man (1969) about a black militant (Sidney Poitier). As the writer-producer of All That Jazz (1979), he received two posthumous Academy Award nominations.
Personal life
Aurthur served in the United States Marine Corps during World War II. He was the first husband of actress Beatrice Arthur, who also served in the Marines; they divorced in 1950 and had no children. She used a variation of his surname as her professional name.
Death
Aurthur died of lung cancer in New York City, aged 56.