Playwright Moss Hart was responsible for bringing us some of the most beloved and enduring dramas and comedies of the American theater. He is best known for such successes as You Can't Take It With You (1936) and The Man Who Came to Dinner (1939)--both written with George S. Kaufman--as well as George Washington Slept Here (1940), Jubilee (1935) with songs by Cole Porter, and I'd Rather Be Right (1937) with songs by Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart (no relation). He also penned the musical Lady In The Dark (1941), with songs by Kurt Weill and Ira Gershwin.
During this period, he also became known as a talented and sensitive director, staging such legendary shows as Junior Miss (1941), Dear Ruth (1944) and Anniversary Waltz (1954), the musical My Fair Lady (1956), and Camelot (1960). Several of his plays were adapted into film versions and he was also the author of such screenplays as Gentleman's Agreement (1947) —earning an Oscar nomination—Hans Christian Andersen (1952) and A Star Is Born (1954).
Kitty Carlisle and Moss Hart
Despite a host of interesting friends which included Noel Coward and Harpo Marx, Hart’s life was plagued by bipolar disorder and long periods of deep depression. In 1946, he married the lovely Kitty Carlisle with whom he had two children. Kitty encouraged her husband through good times and bad and urged him to write a memoir of his interesting life. In 1959, he finished Act I, dedicating it to his wife. The book told of his early life and the beginnings of his career. It was made into a film in 1963 with George Hamilton playing Moss Hart.
Hart died prematurely of cardiac failure at the age of 57. Kitty Carlisle never remarried. In this interview with Miss Carlisle, she speaks of her life with Hart and her deep love for this talented, unusual man.
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