Fanya_Foss

Fanya Foss

Fanya Foss

American screenwriter

Fanya Foss (sometimes credited as Fanya Lawrence or F.A. Foss, October 4, 1906 – December 12, 1995) was a Russian Empire-born American screenwriter, short story writer, and television writer active in Hollywood during the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s. She was married to actor-filmmaker Marc Lawrence, with whom she had a daughter, actress Toni Lawrence (ex-wife of Billy Bob Thornton), and a son, artist Michael Lawrence.

Quick Facts Born, Died ...

Biography

Fanya was born into a Jewish family[1] in Odesa, Ukraine, in 1906, and moved to New York City with her family when she was a year old.[2] Against her parents' wishes, she married her first husband, the writer Edward Dahlberg, while she was only 17; that marriage would end in divorce.[3] As a talented young singer, she won a scholarship to Juilliard and toured Paris.[4][5] She later married Gordon Kingman (this marriage also ended).[6]

She returned to New York City and took a position as a librarian at Columbia University before she began working at The Brooklyn Eagle as a reporter and then became an editor at a publishing house, where she specialized in travel books.[4][6] Her stint as a literary editor led her to some travels of her own; she left NYC with $25, determined to see the country. During this trip, she ended up working in various bookstores and art shops; while on the road, she learned one of her mystery thriller scripts had sold to RKO.[4]

She met character actor Marc Lawrence while working in Hollywood; the pair were married in Las Vegas in 1942.[7] After the 1940s, she concentrated primarily on writing television, although she did collaborate with her husband on films like 1965's Nightmare in the Sun and 1973's Pigs.[8] The pair lived in Rome in the 1950s to avoid the Hollywood blacklist.[2][9] Fanya was a member of the Screen Writers Guild.[10]

She died in Palm Springs, California, on December 12, 1995.[5][11]

Selected filmography

References

  1. [1]
    Zigmond, Helen (28 Mar 1941). "Our Film Folk". The Wisconsin Jewish Chronicle. Retrieved 2019-09-13.
  2. [2]
    "Gangster actor to read play script". The Desert Sun. 6 Feb 2000. Retrieved 2019-09-13.
  3. [3]
    Lawrence, Michael (2015-12-10). Loaded Brush. Fast-Print Publishing. ISBN 9781784560713.
  4. [4]
    "Lee Side o' L.A." The Los Angeles Times. 8 Jul 1943. Retrieved 2019-09-13.
  5. [5]
    "Fanya Foss Lawrence; Screenwriter, Poet, Novelist". Los Angeles Times. 1995-12-19. Retrieved 2019-09-13.
  6. [6]
    Hoban, Phoebe (2010-12-07). Alice Neel: The Art of Not Sitting Pretty. St. Martin's Press. ISBN 9781429956765.
  7. [7]
    "Actor, Writer Wed". The New York Daily News. 24 Dec 1942. Retrieved 2019-09-13.
  8. [8]
    "News of the Movies". The News Leader. 27 Jul 1966. Retrieved 2019-09-13.
  9. [9]
    McClellan, Dennis (3 Dec 2004). "Marc Lawrence, 95; Prolific Actor". The Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2019-09-13.
  10. [10]
    Subotnik, Nadine (4 Apr 1943). "Radio". The Cedar Rapids Gazette. Retrieved 2019-09-13.
  11. [11]
    "Fanya Foss-Lawrence". The Desert Sun. 16 Dec 1995. Retrieved 2019-09-13.
  12. [12]
    "Film Indicts Folly". The New York Daily News. 4 Aug 1945. Retrieved 2019-09-13.
  13. [13]
    "Caliban from Caleb". The Enterprise-Journal. 10 Jul 1941. Retrieved 2019-09-13.
  14. [14]
    "Hollywood Gossip". The Sydney Morning Herald. 3 Oct 1940. Retrieved 2019-09-13.
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