Laurence Tucker Stallings was an American playwright, screenwriter, lyricist, literary critic, journalist, novelist, and photographer.
18 Facts About Laurence Stallings
2.
Best known for his collaboration with Maxwell Anderson on the 1924 play What Price Glory, Stallings produced a groundbreaking autobiographical novel, Plumes, about his service in World War I, and published an award-winning book of photographs, The First World War: A Photographic History.
3.
Laurence Stallings entered Wake Forest University in North Carolina in 1912 and became the editor of the campus literary magazine, the Old Gold and Black.
4.
Laurence Stallings was the daughter of Dr William Louis Poteat, the university president, and the sister of Stallings's classics professor.
5.
Laurence Stallings graduated from Wake Forest College in 1916, and got a job writing advertising copy for a local recruiting office.
6.
Laurence Stallings was so convinced by his own prose, he joined the United States Marine Reserve in 1917.
7.
Laurence Stallings left Philadelphia for overseas duty in France aboard the USS Henderson on 24 April 1918.
8.
Laurence Stallings later damaged it with a fall on the ice, and it was amputated in 1922.
9.
The year following his divorce, Laurence Stallings married Louise St Leger Vance, his secretary at Fox Studios.
10.
Laurence Stallings died of a heart attack in Pacific Palisades, California.
11.
Laurence Stallings was buried with full military honors at Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery in Point Loma near San Diego.
12.
Laurence Stallings received a Master of Science degree from Georgetown University, after which he worked as a reporter, critic, and entertainment editor at the New York World.
13.
Laurence Stallings was impressed by Maxwell Anderson's first play, White Desert, and the two joined forces to collaborate on What Price Glory, which opened at the Plymouth Theatre in New York City in 1924.
14.
Laurence Stallings continued his theatre career with the book and lyrics for the musical Deep River, adapted Ernest Hemingway's novel A Farewell to Arms for the stage in 1930, co-wrote the book for the musicals Rainbow with Oscar Hammerstein, and Virginia with Owen Davis, and penned the play The Streets Are Guarded in 1944.
15.
Laurence Stallings was a member of the Algonquin Round Table.
16.
Laurence Stallings' novel, the autobiographical Plumes, was published in 1924 and was a success, with nine printings by 1925.
17.
Laurence Stallings was regarded as a key influence on three of director John Ford's films, serving as writer or co-writer for 3 Godfathers with John Wayne and Pedro Armendariz, She Wore a Yellow Ribbon, and The Sun Shines Bright.
18.
Laurence Stallings was recalled up to service with the US Marine Corps during World War II as a lieutenant colonel, but did not serve overseas.