Theodore Strauss

Theodore Strauss (December 27, 1912 – October 30, 2009) was an American writer and filmmaker.

Biography

Strauss was born in Oklahoma on December 27, 1912.^[1][2] He worked in circulation at The New York Times in the 1930s.^[3]

His novel Night at Hogwallow (Little, Brown & Co.,1937) was received positively by The New York Times.^[4] Later he became the paper's "second-string film critic" (after Bosley Crowther).^[5] In 1944, he left The New York Times to work as a screenwriter at Paramount.^[5][6]

Strauss was known for his novel Moonrise (Viking, 1946).^[7][8] It was first published serially in a magazine and then adapted for the 1948 film of the same name.^[9][10]

He worked for Life magazine and in 1956 was named editor of Woman's Home Companion.^[11][12][5] He was also editorial director of Crowell-Collier.^[5][13] In 1957, he returned to the film industry in the eastern story department of 20th Century-Fox.^[14][15] Robert Goldstein named him executive story editor at Fox in 1960.^[16]

From the 1960s–1980s, he was known for television documentaries.^[17][18] Strauss and Terry Sanders won a Writers Guild of America Award for the film The Legend of Marilyn Monroe (1966).^[19] He was nominated for an Emmy for I Will Fight No More Forever (1975) and he won an Emmy for America Salutes Richard Rodgers: The Sound of His Music (1976).^[20][21]

Strauss narrated the first hour of Jacques Cousteau: Cries from the Deep (1982). A Variety review said it was "dismally narrated" and elaborated that his "high-toned verbiage" spoiled the trip for viewers.^[22]

A Variety review of his 1986 effort, Clue: Movies, Murder & Mystery, was critical: "Writer Theodore Strauss throws in so many subjects involved in fictional murder that the viewer is left wondering what the mystery is all about".^[23]

Personal life

Strauss was married to Catherine Morrison; they had a son, Eric.^[24][25]

Later Strauss married Dorothy Comingore from 1947 to 1952; they had a son, Peter.^{[26][27][28][29][13]} In 1956, Strauss married his third wife, Luann "Ludy" Miller, in Connecticut; they had a son, Jonathan, around 1960.^[30][31][32]

Theodore Strauss died on October 30, 2009.^[1]

Novels

• Night at Hogwallow (Little, Brown & Co., 1937); also published under the title The Haters^{[3][33][34][35]}
• Moonrise (Viking, 1946)^[36]

Selected filmography

Film

• Moonrise (1948)^[37]
• Isn't It Romantic? (1948)^[38]
• The Russian Story (1948)^[39]
• Four Days in November (1964)^[40][41]

Television

• The Way Out Men (television) (1965)^[42]
• They've Killed President Lincoln (1971)^[43]
• The Crucifixion of Jesus (1972)^[44]
• The Killer Instinct (1973)^[45]
• Struggle for Survival (1974)^[46]
• I Will Fight No More Forever (1975)^[20]
• America Salutes Richard Rodgers: The Sound of His Music (1976)^[21]
• Jacques Cousteau: Cries from the Deep (1982)^[22]
• Honeymooners Reunion (1985)^[47]
• Clue: Movies, Murder & Mystery (1986)^[23]