Larry Kramer, after receiving his B.A.
from Yale University in 1957, entered
the film industry, becoming Assistant
to the President of, first, Columbia
pictures, and then United Artists. He
lived in London from 1961-1970, where
he co-produced and co-wrote the film
Here We Go Round the Mulberry Bush. He
wrote and produced the screenplay for
the Film of D. H. Lawrence's classic
novel, Women in Love. His screenplay
was nominated for an Academy Award, the
film received three additional
nominations, and Glenda Jackson
received in Oscar for Best Actress. His
play about the early years of AIDS, The
Normal Heart, has had over 600
productions all over the world. It
holds the record for being the longest-
running play at Joseph Papp's Public
Theater in New York, and it's London
production at the Royal Court broke all
existing box-office records at that
theater. Kramer's Just Say No, A Play
about a Farce, (1988), is about how
sexual hypocrisy in high places (the
Reagan administration) allowed AIDS to
become a plague. His book of non-
fiction, Reports from the Holocaust:
The Making of an AIDS Activist, is in
assemblage of his political writings
from The York Times and other
publications. His 1978 novel, Faggots,
continues to be one of the best selling
of all gay novels. His last play, The
Destiny of Me, was runner-up for the
Pulitzer Prize and was awarded an Obie,
the Lucille Lortel Award for Best Play,
and the Hull-Warriner Award by the
Dramatists' Guild. He is a recipient of
the Award in Literature from the
American Academy of Arts and Letters
and he is also the first creative
artist and the first openly gay person
to be honored by a Public Service Award
from Common Cause.
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