Isobel Lennart was an American screenwriter and playwright.
12 Facts About Isobel Lennart
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Isobel Lennart is best known for writing the book for the Broadway musical Funny Girl which premiered in 1964, although she wrote scripts for successful Hollywood films featuring major stars, some of which received Oscar nominations.
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Isobel Lennart was killed in an automobile crash in Hemet, California in 1971 at the age of 55.
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Isobel Lennart worked in the MGM mail room in New York, a job she lost when she attempted to organize a union.
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Isobel Lennart was hired by MGM in a full-time position.
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In 1968, Isobel Lennart wrote the screen adaptation of Funny Girl, which won her a Writers Guild of America award for Best Screenplay.
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Isobel Lennart wrote the book for the Broadway musical Funny Girl, meaning that she wrote the dialogue, created the story, crafted the structure, and developed the characters.
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Unsurprisingly, as Isobel Lennart recounted, she first wrote her story of Fanny Brice's life in screenplay form.
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Isobel Lennart called Mary Martin and later Ray Stark, and the thing just snowballed.
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When Robbins wanted to fire Isobel Lennart, Stark fired him instead.
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Isobel Lennart joined the Communist Party in 1938 but left in August 1939 because "of her opposition to the German-Soviet Nonaggression Treaty".
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The ensuing practice of blacklisting Hollywood writers thought to have Communist sympathies led Isobel Lennart to become a "friendly witness" when she was called to testify before HUAC in 1952, and she named more than 20 people as former party members.