| 1 | Name: | Mr. A. R. Gurney | |
| Year Elected: | 2009 | ||
| Class: | 5. The Arts, Professions, and Leaders in Public & Private Affairs | ||
| Subdivision: | 501. Creative Artists | ||
| Residency: | Resident | ||
| Living? : | Deceased | ||
| Birth Date: | 1930 | ||
| Death Date: | June 13, 2017 | ||
A.R. Gurney was a prolific playwright who dissected the fading folkways of the Northeast's traditional white Anglo-Saxon Protestant society, of which he himself was a member. Among his plays are Scenes from American Life; The Dining Room; The Cocktail Hour; Love Letters; Slyvia; Later Life; Far East; Ancestral Voices; Big Bill; Mrs. Farnsworth; Indian Blood; Buffalo Gal; The Grand Manner; Black Tie; Heresy, and Family Furniture. He had written three published novels, several television scripts, and the libretto for Michael Torke's Strawberry Fields, commissioned and produced by the New York City Opera. Gurney was a Professor of Literature at M.I.T. before devoting himself full time to the theatre. He is a member of the Theatre Hall of Fame and the American Academy of Arts and Letters, and he has honorary degrees from Williams College and Buffalo State University. He was elected a member of the American Philosophical Society in 2009. A. R. Gurney died June 13, 2017, at the age of 86, in Manhattan. | |||