Cheryl
Crawford was
born in 1902. After working for the Theatre
Guild along with Harold Clurman and Lee
Strasberg founded the Group Theatre
in New York in 1931. Others involved in the group included Elia
Kazan, Stella Adler, John
Garfield, Paul Green, Howard
Da Silva, Franchot Tone, John
Randolph, Joseph Bromberg, Michael
Gordon, Luther Adler, Will
Geer, Clifford Odets and Lee
J. Cobb. Members of the group tended to hold left-wing political
views and wanted to produce plays that dealt with important social
issues.
In 1946 Crawford and Eva La Gallienne founded the American Repertory
Theatre. The following year she joined with Elia
Kazan to establish the Actors Studio. Her main commercial successes
included Brigadoon (1947), Paint
Your Wagon (1950), Sweet Bird
of Youth (1959) and Mother Courage
(1963). Her autobiography, One Naked Individual
was published in 1977. Cheryl Crawford died
in 1986.
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