Robert Harling (writer)
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Robert M. Harling III (born November 12, 1951) is an American writer, producer and film director.
Biography
Early life
He was born in 1951 in Dothan, Alabama, one of three children of Robert M. Harling Jr (1923–2019) and Margaret Jones Harling (1923–2013).[1][2][3][4] He graduated from Northwestern State University in Natchitoches, Louisiana and obtained a Juris Doctor from Tulane University Law School in New Orleans.[3][4][5] While in law school, he sang in a band which performed in New Orleans on weekends.[4]
Career
However, Harling never used his legal education: skipping the bar exam, he instead moved to New York City to become an actor, auditioning for bit parts in plays and television commercials as well as working as a ticket seller for Broadway shows.[3][4]
After the death of his younger sister, Susan, in 1985 due to diabetes, Harling wrote a short story and adapted it into the play Steel Magnolias,[3][4][5][6][7] which was produced off-Broadway in 1987 to great acclaim and was translated into 17 languages.[4]
Harling also wrote the screenplay for the film version of the play that was produced in 1989.[8][9][10][11] He played a small role in the film as a minister.[8]
Harling wrote more screenplays: Soapdish (1991), The First Wives Club (1996), and Laws of Attraction (2004); he also worked as an uncredited script doctor on a number of films. Harling also wrote and directed the sequel to Terms of Endearment titled The Evening Star (1996).[5][8][12]
In the spring of 2012, he served as writer and producer of the TV show GCB.[5][8][11] In the same year, it was reported that Harling was adapting Soapdish into a musical.[5][13]
Personal life
He is Presbyterian and openly gay.[7][13] He owns the Oaklawn Plantation in Natchitoches, Louisiana.[14][15]
Filmography
Writer
- 1989 Steel Magnolias[8]
- 1990 Steel Magnolias (TV pilot)[8]
- 1991 Soapdish[8]
- 1992 Coiffure pour dames[8]
- 1996 The First Wives Club[8]
- 1996 The Evening Star[8]
- 2004 Laws of Attraction[8]
- 2012 GCB[8]
Producer
- 1997 A Smile Like Yours[8]
- 2012 GCB[8]
Director
- 1996 The Evening Star[8]
References
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- ↑ Blanchard-St. Denis Funeral Home, Obituary: Margaret Jones Harling, Margaret Jones Harling Obituary
- ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
- ↑ a b c d Kim Hubbard, Robert Harling, Author of a Hit Comedy Based on a Family Tragedy, People, Vol. 29, No. 3, January 25, 1988
- ↑ a b c d e f Julia Reed, The Interview: Robert Harling, Garden & Gun, December 2012 – January 2013
- ↑ a b c d e Brooks Barnes, Sweet Tea and Tart Women, The New York Times, February 29, 2012
- ↑ Anne McCracken, Mary Semel, A broken heart still beats: after your child dies, Hazelden Publishing, 2000, p. 87 [1]
- ↑ a b Jeremy Kinser, Steel Magnolias Back in Bloom, The Advocate, October 25, 2012
- ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
- ↑ Karen Hollinger, In the company of women: contemporary female friendship films, Minneapolis, Minnesota: University of Minnesota Press, 1998, p. 75 [2]
- ↑ Tara McPherson, Reconstructing Dixie: Race, Gender, and Nostalgia in the Imagined South, Durham, North Carolina: Duke University Press, 2003, p. 159 [3]
- ↑ a b Tanner Transky, Robert Harling: The Man Who Loves Women, Entertainment Weekly, April 13, 2012
- ↑ Peter C. Rollins, The Columbia companion to American history on film, New York City: Columbia University Press, 2007 p. 494 [4]
- ↑ a b Lisa Rosen, Robert Harling, Darren Star breathe life into 'GCB', The Los Angeles Times, January 8, 2012
- ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
- ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
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- Pages with script errors
- 1951 births
- Living people
- People from Natchitoches, Louisiana
- Northwestern State University alumni
- Tulane University Law School alumni
- 20th-century American dramatists and playwrights
- 21st-century American dramatists and playwrights
- American male screenwriters
- American Presbyterians
- American gay writers
- American male dramatists and playwrights
- 20th-century American male writers
- 21st-century American male writers
- Gay screenwriters
- Gay dramatists and playwrights
- Film directors from Louisiana
- Screenwriters from Louisiana
- Film producers from Louisiana
- 20th-century American screenwriters
- 21st-century American screenwriters
- American LGBTQ screenwriters
- American LGBTQ film directors
- American LGBTQ dramatists and playwrights
- LGBTQ film producers
- LGBTQ Protestants