Harold Edgar Clurman (September 18, 1901 – September 9, 1980) was an American theatre director and drama critic, "one of the most influential in the United States". He was most notable as one of the three founders of the New York City's Group Theatre (1931–1941). He directed more than 40 plays in his career and, during the 1950s, was nominated for a Tony Award as director for several productions. In addition to his directing career, he was drama critic for The New Republic (1948–52) and The Nation (1953–1980), helping shape American theater by writing about it. Clurman wrote seven books about the theatre, including his memoir The Fervent Years: The Group Theatre And The Thirties (1961). Clurman is celebrated worldwide in the solo performance play "LET IT BE ART!" written by actor/director Ronald Rand, an International Goodwill Cultural Ambassador/Performing Artist and Fulbright Specialist Scholar. The play, about Harold Clurman's life of passion, is in its 15th internationally acclaimed year.
His papers are on deposit at the Billy Rose Theatre Collection at the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts. The Clurman papers contain notebooks and journals, director's annotated scripts, manuscript drafts and annotated typescripts of Clurman's books, and photograph scrapbooks documenting his career as a director, writer and critic. The materials span from 1935 through 1978 and give an interesting look at Clurman's work and thought process as a director. His notebooks contain his ideas on plot and character development, as well as casting notes and ideas for plays which he directed, while the scripts contain his director's annotations and compliment the notebooks for research and the study of Clurman's techniques as a director. Drafts and typescripts of his writings elucidate the evolution of his three books: "Ibsen," "On Directing" and "All People Are Famous." Finally, the photograph scrapbooks give a pictorial representative of specific plays, including "Awake and Sing," "The Iceman Cometh" and "Long Day's Journey Into Night."
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Was twice nominated for Broadway's Tony Award as Best Director: in 1956, for William Inge's "Bus Stop," "Pipe Dream" and Jean Giraudoux' "Tiger at the Gates;" and in 1957 for Jean Anouilh's "The Waltz of the Toreadors."
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Famous Broadway director who directed only one film, Deadline at Dawn (1946). He collaborated several times with playwright Clifford Odets, who wrote the script for the film.
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