Rose Leiman Goldemberg

Last updated

Rose Leiman Goldemberg
Born (1928-05-17) May 17, 1928 (age 96)
Staten Island, New York, U.S.
OccupationPlaywright, screenwriter, author, poet
Notable awards Writers Guild of America Award, [1] 2 Emmy Award Nominations, [1] [2] Humanitas Prize Nomination, [1] [3] American Women in Radio and Television Award, [3] Humanitarian Award for Drama [3] [4]

Rose Leiman Goldemberg (born May 17, 1928) is an American playwright, screenwriter, poet, and author of fiction and non-fiction books and stories.

Contents

Goldemberg's Letters Home, about the life of Sylvia Plath and her mother, has been translated into numerous languages and been honored all over the world. [3] Like Letters Home, Goldemberg's plays frequently incorporate biographical material, as with Sophie (1987), about entertainer Sophie Tucker; and Picon Pie (2004), about Yiddish theater actress Molly Picon. Her plays have been produced widely Off-Broadway, in venues throughout the United States, and internationally. [5]

Goldemberg's most prominent work on TV was The Burning Bed (1984), a television movie based on the true story of a survivor of domestic violence, played by Farrah Fawcett. Another well-known television movie written by Goldemberg, Stone Pillow (1985), starred Lucille Ball as a homeless woman. Other screenplays written by Goldemberg include Land of Hope (1976), and Mother and Daughter: The Loving War (1980). Goldemberg was more involved with the production and filming of television movies, mini-series, and shows than is typical for screenwriters, making cast recommendations and visiting the sets. Most of her screenplays are dramas.

Goldemberg has also taught the subjects of English and Theater at The City College of New York and Fairleigh Dickinson University. She is a published author of such books as Adios, Hollywood and Antique Jewelry: A Practical & Passionate Guide. She is also an award-winning poet and author of short stories. [3]

Early years

Goldemberg was born in 1928 in the Port Richmond neighborhood of Staten Island, New York. She started writing at the age of five, and entered Brooklyn College in 1944 at the age of 16. After receiving her BA (magna cum laude) from Brooklyn College, she attended Ohio State University on a teaching assistantship and received her MA. [6] Upon graduating she started working at the newly formed TV Guide Magazine, where she reviewed TV scripts and wrote plot summaries. It was there that she decided to become a screenwriter. She studied at the American Theatre Wing and Columbia University, [6] and has studied under Lee Strasberg and Ira Cirker. She began her screenwriting career by writing religious TV scripts for Pamela Ilott at CBS.

Career

Goldemberg's Gandhiji was chosen for the O'Neill Conference in 1970. At the time she was a mother and a full-time teacher, along with being a playwright. [7] Gandhiji premiered in 1977 at Back Alley's downtown studio, 617 F St. NW, Washington D.C. [8] It garnered a Robby Award, [3] and helped to establish Goldemberg as a dramatist. [9] Gandhiji was also honored in Burns Mantle's "Best Plays of 1982-1983." [3]

Land of Hope was a pilot for a television series written by Goldemberg, which aired on the CBS network in 1976. It was about the immigrant experience in the United States. Land of Hope was Goldemberg's break into the television industry. [10] Goldemberg's play Letters Home premiered as part of The Women's Project at The American Place Theatre in New York City in 1979. It dramatizes the correspondence between author Sylvia Plath and her mother. It was later staged at the Theatre at New End in London; Playbox Theatre in Melbourne; and in Paris; Copenhagen; Montreal; Tel Aviv; Los Angeles; and other cities. In 1986, French feminist film director Chantal Akerman directed it for film. [11]

Goldemberg's Mother and Daughter: The Loving War was a TV movie first broadcast on the CBS network in 1980, which was nominated for a Writers Guild of America Best Drama Award. [11] Goldemberg's television movie Born Beautiful was broadcast on the NBC network in 1982. The work took a critical view of the modeling industry. [11]

Goldemberg wrote the screenplay and co-produced the television film The Burning Bed , which was originally broadcast by the NBC network in 1984. It was based on the true story of Francine Hughes, played by Farrah Fawcett, a victim of domestic violence who killed her abuser by setting their bed on fire. The movie earned very high ratings, was rebroadcast many times, and sparked public discourse about domestic violence. The screenplay won the Writers Guild of America Award for Best Dramatic Adaptation and was nominated for Emmy and Humanitas Awards. [11]

Stone Pillow was a television movie written by Goldemberg, which originally aired on the CBS network in 1985. It starred Lucille Ball in the dramatic role of a homeless woman living on the streets of New York City. [11] Stone Pillow ranked as one of the top 10 highest rated telecasts the week that it aired. [12] Death at Dinner, a comedy, which aired on the PBS network in 1985, was a segment of The Booth television series written by Goldemberg. [11]

Goldemberg's Sophie, a musical about the life of American singer and actress Sophie Tucker, was first staged at the Jewish Repertory Theater, starring Judith Cohen, in 1987. [11] Goldemberg wrote the television movie Dark Holiday, which aired on the NBC network in 1989. It tells the true story of an American woman kidnapped in Turkey. [11]

Goldemberg's musical Picon Pie opened in Santa Monica, CA at The Santa Monica Playhouse April 6, 2002 [13] and starred Barbara Minkus as Molly Picon. The production toured throughout the country, appearing Off-Broadway at the DR2 Theater on July 15, 2005, in New York City, moving to the Lamb's Theatre on February 17, 2005. It closed on June 2, 2005. [14]

In 2011 Goldemberg was interviewed by NY Women in Film and Television. In the interview Goldemberg talks about how she broke into television and shares stories about the experiences she had while working in the industry. [10] Goldemberg's work has been archived in the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts at Lincoln Center, which houses one of the world's largest collections of materials relating to the performing arts. [15]

Work

Screenwriting

+ denotes award nomination, ++ denotes first-place award

Plays

+ denotes award nomination, ++ denotes first-place award

Books, Articles, Short Stories

Awards and honors

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Kander</span> American musical theatre composer

John Harold Kander is an American composer, known largely for his work in the musical theater. As part of the songwriting team Kander and Ebb, Kander wrote the scores for 15 musicals, including Cabaret (1966) and Chicago (1975), both of which were later adapted into acclaimed films. He and Ebb also wrote the standard "New York, New York". The team also received numerous nominations, which include five additional Tony Awards, two Academy Awards, and four Golden Globe Awards.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rodgers and Hammerstein</span> 20th-century American songwriting team

Rodgers and Hammerstein was a theater-writing team of composer Richard Rodgers (1902–1979) and lyricist-dramatist Oscar Hammerstein II (1895–1960), who together created a series of innovative and influential American musicals. Their musical theater writing partnership has been called the greatest of the 20th century.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jane Krakowski</span> American actress (born 1968)

Jane Krakowski is a Polish American actress. She starred as Jenna Maroney in the NBC satirical comedy series 30 Rock, for which she received four Primetime Emmy Award nominations for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series. Krakowski's other television roles have included Elaine Vassal in the Fox legal comedy-drama series Ally McBeal (1997–2002) and Jacqueline White in the Netflix comedy series Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt (2015–2020). For the latter, she received another Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series nomination.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Savion Glover</span> American dancer, actor, and choreographer (born 1973)

Savion Glover is an American tap dancer, actor and choreographer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Celeste Holm</span> American stage, film and television actress (1917–2012)

Celeste Holm was an American stage, film and television actress.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Linda Lavin</span> American actress and singer (born 1937)

Linda Lavin is an American actress and singer. She is known for playing the title character in the sitcom Alice and for her stage performances, both on and off-Broadway.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Inga Swenson</span> American actress (1932–2023)

Inga Swenson was an American actress and singer. She appeared in multiple Broadway productions and was nominated twice for the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical for her performances as Lizzie Curry in 110 in the Shade and Irene Adler in Baker Street. She also spent seven years portraying Gretchen Kraus in the ABC comedy series Benson.

<i>The Burning Bed</i> Television film inspired by a 1977 murder related to domestic abuse

The Burning Bed is a 1984 television drama film starring Farrah Fawcett, Paul Le Mat, and Richard Masur. Based on the 1980 non-fiction novel of the same name by Faith McNulty, it follows battered housewife Francine Hughes and her trial for the murder of her husband, James Berlin "Mickey" Hughes. Hughes set fire to the bed her husband was sleeping in at their Dansville, Michigan home on March 9, 1977 after thirteen years of physical domestic abuse at his hands.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Molly Picon</span> American actress (1898–1992)

Molly Picon was an American actress of stage, screen, radio and television, as well as a lyricist and dramatic storyteller.

<i>Stone Pillow</i> 1985 television film directed by George Schaefer

Stone Pillow is a 1985 American made-for-television drama film directed by George Schaefer and written by Rose Leiman Goldemberg. It starred Lucille Ball, in an attempt to make a dramatic "breakout" from her years in comedy, portraying an older homeless woman with few resources and even fewer options.

Patricia Kalember is an American actress, best known for her role as Georgiana "Georgie" Reed Whitsig in the NBC drama series, Sisters (1991–1996). Kalember also had the leading roles in a number of television films, co-starred in the feature films, including Fletch Lives (1989), Jacob's Ladder (1990), A Far Off Place (1993), Signs (2002), The Company Men (2010), and Limitless (2011), and recurring roles in thirtysomething (1989–1991) and Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (2004–2010).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anthology series</span> Form of broadcast entertainment

An anthology series is a written series, radio, television, film, or video game series that presents a different story and a different set of characters in each different episode, season, segment, or short. These usually have a different cast in each episode, but several series in the past, such as Four Star Playhouse, employed a permanent troupe of character actors who would appear in a different drama each week. Some anthology series, such as Studio One, began on radio and then expanded to television.

Jessica Blank is an American actress, writer, and director who works in film, television, and theater. She is also a consultant and public speaker on story and social change.

Casey Childs is an American theater director and the founder of Primary Stages, a non-profit off-Broadway theater company in New York City. Since 1984, the company has produced new plays, many directed by Childs.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mary Gallagher</span> American writer

Mary Gallagher is an American playwright, screenwriter, novelist, actress, director and teacher. For six years, she was artistic director of Gypsy, a theatre company in the Hudson Valley, New York, which collaborated with many artists to create site-specific mask-and-puppet music-theatre with texts and lyrics by Gallagher. These pieces included Premanjali and the 7 Geese Brothers, Ama and The Scottish Play. In 1996-97, she directed the Playwrights Workshop at the University of Iowa, and she taught playwriting and screenwriting at New York University/Tisch School of the Arts from 2001 to 2010. She is a member of Actors & Writers, a theater company in the Hudson Valley, and the Ensemble Studio Theater in New York City. She is an alumna of New Dramatists, where she developed many of her plays and created and moderated the series, "You Can Make a Life: Conversations with Playwrights" from 1994 to 2001.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tracey Scott Wilson</span> American dramatist

Tracey Scott Wilson is an American playwright, television writer, television producer, and screenwriter. She graduated from Rutgers University with a BA in English and from Temple University with an MA in English Literature.

William Blackwell Branch was an American playwright who was also involved in many aspects of entertainment, including journalism, media production, editing, a short-lived career acting for television as well as talking on the radio. He "wrote, directed, and produced extensively for the stage, television, radio, and his own media consulting and production firm".

Picon Pie was an Off-Broadway musical written by Rose Leiman Goldemberg and produced by Edmund Gaynes. It opened in New York City at the DR2 Theatre on July 15, 2004 and starred Barbara Minkus as Molly Picon. The production moved to the Lamb's Theatre on February 17, 2005. It closed on June 2, 2005.

The Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Special Class Series is an Emmy award given to television programs that do not "fall into other established categories." Prior to 2000, the category was referred to as Special Class Program and both series and specials competed in the same category. A separate category for singular specials was created in 2000.

Diana Miae Son is an American playwright, television producer, and writer. She is known for her work on American Crime, Law & Order: Criminal Intent, Southland, and Blue Bloods. She, along with Brian Yorkey, has also served as the showrunner for 13 Reasons Why.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 "NY Public Library Archives – Burning Bed".
  2. ↑ "Emmys Official Website".
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "Dramatists Play Service Official Website".
  4. 1 2 3 "Playbill.com". May 19, 2005.
  5. ↑ "New York Public Library Archives".
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 O'rourke, Joyce Williams (1988). New Female Playwrights in the American Theatre, 1973–1983: a Critical Analysis of Thought in Selected Plays (Thesis). LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses.
  7. 1 2 3 Goldemberg, Rose Leiman (September 20, 1970). "New York Times Archives Sept. 20, 1970". The New York Times.
  8. ↑ "Washington Post Archives May 10, 1977". The Washington Post .
  9. ↑ Sweet, Jeffrey (2014). The O'Neill: The Transformation of Modern American Theater. Yale University Press. p. 124. ISBN   9780300206937.
  10. 1 2 "NY Women in Film and Television Interview". YouTube . March 30, 2012.
  11. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 "New York Public Library Archives – Detailed Description".
  12. ↑ https://www.americanradiohistory.com/Archive-BC/BC-1985/BC-1985-11-18.pdf [ bare URL PDF ]
  13. ↑ "Variety.com review". April 23, 2002.
  14. ↑ Willis, John A; Hodges, Ben (March 1, 2007). Theatre World. Hal Leonard Corporation. ISBN   978-1-55783-703-5.
  15. ↑ "NY Public Library for the Performing Arts".
  16. ↑ "Barsha Adios".
  17. ↑ "LA Times – Stone Pillow". Los Angeles Times . February 22, 1986.
  18. ↑ "University of Maryland".
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.