Eric Russell Bentley was a British-born American theater critic, playwright, singer, editor, and translator.
11 Facts About Eric Bentley
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Eric Bentley was a member of the New York Theater Hall of Fame, recognizing his many years of cabaret performances.
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Eric Bentley was born in Bolton, Lancashire, the son of Laura Evelyn and Fred Eric Bentley.
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Eric Bentley taught History and Drama during the 1942 summer session at Black Mountain College, as well as from 1943 to 1944.
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Eric Bentley became known for his blunt style of theatre criticism, and was threatened with lawsuits from both Tennessee Williams and Arthur Miller for his unfavorable reviews of their work.
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From 1960 to 1961, Eric Bentley was the Charles Eliot Norton Professor at Harvard University.
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Eric Bentley was one of the preeminent experts on Bertolt Brecht, whom he met at the University of California, Los Angeles as a young man and whose work he translated extensively.
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Eric Bentley edited the Grove Press issue of Brecht's work, and recorded two albums of Brecht's songs for Folkways Records, most of which had never before been recorded in English.
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Eric Bentley cited his homosexuality as an influence on his theater work, especially his play Lord Alfred's Lover, based on the life of Oscar Wilde.
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Eric Bentley won an Obie Award for Lifetime Achievement in Theatre from the American Theatre Wing in 2006 and a Robert Chesley Award in 2007.
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Eric Bentley died at his home in Manhattan on August 5,2020, at the age of 103.