Jean Kerr
Quick Facts
Biography
Jean Kerr (July 10, 1922 – January 5, 2003) was an Irish-American author and playwright born in Scranton, Pennsylvania, and best known for her humorous bestseller Please Don't Eat the Daisies as well as the plays King of Hearts and Mary, Mary.
Personal life
Born Bridget Jean Collins in Scranton, Pennsylvania to Tom and Kitty Collins, Kerr grew up on Electric Street in Scranton, and attended Marywood Seminary, the topic of her humorous short story "When I was Queen of the May."She received a Bachelor's Degree from Marywood College in Scranton and later attended The Catholic University of America, where she received her master's degree and met then-professor Walter Kerr. She later married Kerr, who became a well-known New York drama critic, and they had six children—Christopher, twins Colin and John, Gilbert, Gregory, and Kitty. The Kerrs bought a home in New Rochelle, New York, where Jean wrote King of Hearts, then settled in Larchmont, New York. She died in White Plains, New York of pneumonia in 2003.
Career
With her husband,Kerr wrote Goldilocks (1958), a short-lived Broadway musical comedy about the early days of silent film. She wrote several highly successful plays, including the Tony Award-winning King of Hearts as well as the comedy Mary, Mary, which ran for 1,572 performances. King of Hearts was later adapted to the screen as That Certain Feeling.
Kerr also wrote many humorous magazine essays, typically about her family. Several collections of these were published in book form and became best-sellers. Her best-known book was Please Don't Eat the Daisies (1957), a humorous look at suburban life from the point of view of former city dwellers. The book was a national bestseller, later adapted for the screen as a vehicle for Doris Day and David Niven and subsequently the basis of a television situation comedy starring Pat Crowley.
Books
- Please Don't Eat the Daisies (1957)
- The Snake has all the Lines (1960)
- Penny Candy (1970)
- How I Got to Be Perfect (1979)
Plays
- The Song of Bernadette (1946)
- Our Hearts Were Young and Gay (1946)
- Jenny Kissed Me (1948)
- Touch-and-Go (1949)
- John Murray Anderson's Almanac (1953)
- King of Hearts(1954)
- Goldilocks: A Musical (1958)
- Mary, Mary (1961)
- Poor Richard (1964)
- Finishing Touches (1973)
- Lunch Hour (1980)
