Robert Ardrey

Biography

Robert Ardrey (b. October 16, 1908, Chicago, Illinois—d. January 14, 1980, South Africa) was an American playwright and screenwriter who returned to his academic training in anthropology and the behavioral sciences in the 1950s. Robert Ardrey was the son of Robert Leslie Ardrey, an editor and publisher, and the former Marie Haswell. He graduated Phi Beta Kappa from the University of Chicago, where his mentor was Thornton Wilder. Ardrey was married to Helen Johnson, whom he met at the University, from 1938 until they divorced in 1960. They had two sons, Ross and Daniel. Ardrey married the South African stage actress Berdine Grunewald, who later illustrated his books, in 1960. The Howard Gotlieb Archival Research Center in the Mugar Memorial Library at Boston University currently houses the Robert Ardrey Collection. African Genesis (1961) and The Territorial Imperative, two of Robert Ardrey's most widely read works, as well as Desmond Morris' The Naked Ape (1967), were key elements in the public discourse of the 1960s which challenged earlier anthropological assumptions. Ardrey's ideas notably influenced Arthur C. Clarke and Stanley Kubrick in the development of 2001: A Space Odyssey, as well as Sam Peckinpah, to whom Strother Martin gave copies of two of Ardrey's books. Screenplays: They Knew What They Wanted (1940) [12] A Lady Takes a Chance (1943) The Green Years (1946) Song of Love (1947) The Three Musketeers (1948) Madame Bovary (1949) The Secret Garden (1949) The Schumann Story (1950) short film adaptation[13] of Song of Love The Adventures of Quentin Durward (1955) The Power and the Prize (1956) The Wonderful Country (1959) Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (1962) [2] Khartoum (1966)[14] Nominated for an Academy Award for Writing Original Screenplay The Animal Within (1975) documentary Plays: Star Spangled (1936) Casey Jones (1938) God and Texas (1938) How To Get Tough About It (1938) Thunder Rock (1939) (Thunder Rock filmed in 1942 in the UK, released 1944 in the US) Jeb (1946) Sing Me No Lullaby (1954) Shadow Of Heroes (1958) (produced in London as Stone and Star) Honours 1935: Sergel Drama prize. 1937: Guggenheim fellowship. 1940: Sidney Howard Memorial prize. 1961: Theresa Helburn memorial award. 1963: Willkie Brothers grant for anthropology. Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature