Stage, screen vet Kanin dies at 86

Oscar-winner was behind hits 'Born Yesterday,' 'A Double Life'

By RICHARD NATALE

Writer and director Garson Kanin, who successfully commuted between stage and screen and was responsible for such memorable works as "Born Yesterday" and "A Double Life," died Saturday of heart failure at his Manhattan home after a long illness. He was 86.

Kanin co-wrote several films with his wife, actress Ruth Gordon, including the Katharine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy starrers "Adam's Rib" and "Pat and Mike." His brother, Michael, was the Oscar winning co-writer of "Woman of the Year, the first Hepburn-Tracy pairing, and producer of Kanin and Gordon's "A Double Life."

Before marrying Gordon in 1942, Kanin had prospered as a Hollywood director at RKO, most prominently with the comedies "Bachelor Mother," "Tom, Dick and Harry," "My Favorite Wife" and the drama "They Knew What They Wanted."

Born on November 24, 1912, in Rochester, N.Y., he dropped out of high school following the Wall Street crash of 1929 and worked as a messenger for Western Union and a salesman.

Having studied clarinet and saxophone, he secured work for a jazz band and segued into vaudeville and radio performances.

Learning curve

Kanin studied at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts. His first Broadway role, in "Little Ol' Boy," came on the heels of his graduation in 1933, and he worked steadily in feature roles in such productions as "Three Men on a Horse," "Boy Meets Girl, "The Body Beautiful" and "Star Spangled." He also worked as an assistant to director George Abbott on several plays, including "Brother Rat" and "Room Service." Abbott encouraged him to direct the 1936 and '37 productions "Hitch Your Wagon" and "Too Many Heroes."

Samuel Goldwyn hired him in 1937 as a director on his production staff. But he and Goldwyn frequently feuded, and the contract was soon terminated; Kanin then moved to RKO. His first assignment, 1938's "A Man To Remember," received such good notices that the studio bumped him up to higher profile pictures such as "Next Time I Marry," with Lucille Ball, and the John Barrymore vehicle "The Great Man Votes."

He was then handed "Bachelor Mother," written by Norman Krasna, to star the queen of the RKO lot, Ginger Rogers. He passed the test with flying colors but then went on suspension after refusing to direct "Anne of the Windy Poplars," which brother Michael had been asked to write. He returned in 1940 for "My Favorite Wife" with Irene Dunne and Cary Grant.

Fearing he'd be typecast as a comedy director, he directed an adaptation of Sidney Howard's play "They Knew What They Wanted," starring Carole Lombard and Charles Laughton, but in 1941, he helmed another Rogers comedy, "Tom, Dick and Harry."

He was also responsible for the idea behind "Woman of the Year," which his brother Michael co-wrote with Ring Lardner Jr., although Kanin received no credit on the film. He made similar uncredited contributions to "The More the Merrier" and "A Lady Takes a Chance" (both in 1943).

That same year, Kanin entered the Army and was stationed in Fort Monmouth, N.J., with the Training Film Laboratory, where he directed the short "Night Shift" and "Ring of Steel." He served for a year during World War II as a sergeant in the Air Force and, in 1943, became a captain in the OSS, where he and British director Carol Reed co-directed the Oscar winning documentary "The True Glory." He also directed "Fellow Americans," "Battle Stripes" and, with Jean Renoir, "Salute to France," released in 1946.

Teaming up

In December 1942, Kanin married actress-writer Ruth Gordon and directed her in "Years Ago" (1946). He spent the next few years on Broadway directing "How I Wonder" and "The Leading Lady."

But his biggest success was 1946's "Born Yesterday," which he wrote. It starred Judy Holliday and ran for more than 1,600 performances. (A film version directed by George Cukor won Holliday a 1950 best actress Oscar.)

Other writing-directing credits for the stage during this period include "Smile of the World" and "The Rat Race." Kanin even tried his hand at opera, crafting an English-language libretto for a production of Strauss' "Die Fledermaus" at the Metropolitan Opera in 1950. Gordon and Kanin's first screenwriting collaboration, "A Double Life," earned them an Oscar nomination and brought an Oscar to film's star, Ronald Colman. The duo were also nominated for Oscars for the Hepburn/Tracy comedies "Adam's Rib" and "Pat and Mike." The story for Frank Tashlin's "The Girl Can't Help It" in 1957 came from Kanin's play "Do Re Mi." He also provided the story for the 1960 Bing Crosby vehicle "High Time." And he wrote and directed "The Rat Race" in 1960 (from his play). His brother and sister-in-law, Michael and Fay Kanin, adapted "The Right Approach" from Kanin's "The Live Wire" in 1961.

A return to B'way

Kanin returned to the stage to direct such Broadway productions as "The Diary of Anne Frank" and "Funny Girl," which catapulted Barbra Streisand to fame.

In 1969, he returned to the screen with two middling writing-directing assignments: "Where It's At," starring David Janssen, and "Some Kind of Nut," with Dick Van Dyke. In 1980, he and Gordon collaborated on the TV movie "Hardhat and Legs."

But for most of the later years of his life, Kanin turned to biography and fiction, including "Tracy and Hepburn" and the novel "Moviola."

Following Gordon's death in 1985, Kanin married actress Marian Seldes, who survives him.