Editing George S. Kaufman (section)

==Personal life==

[[File:Portrait of Beatrice Kaufman LCCN2004663117.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Beatrice Kaufman]] in 1934]]

In the 1920s, Kaufman was a member of the [[Algonquin Round Table]], a circle of writers and show business people. From the 1920s through the 1950s, Kaufman was as well known for his personality as he was for his writing.{{Citation needed|date=November 2010}} In the [[Moss Hart]] autobiography ''[[Act One (book)|Act One]]'', Hart portrayed Kaufman as a morose and intimidating figure, uncomfortable with any expressions of affection between human beings—in life or on the page. Hart writes that Max Siegel said: "Maybe I should have warned you. Mr Kaufman hates any kind of sentimentality—can't stand it!"<ref>Hart, Moss (1989). ''Act one: an autobiography''. Macmillan, {{ISBN|0-312-03272-2}}, p. 274.</ref>
This perspective, along with a number of taciturn observations made by Kaufman himself, led to a simplistic but commonly held belief that Hart was the emotional soul of the creative team while Kaufman was a misanthropic writer of punchlines.  Kaufman preferred never to leave Manhattan. He once said: "I never want to go any place where I can't get back to Broadway and 44th by midnight."<ref>{{cite book| last=Meryman| first=Richard| author-link=Richard Meryman|title=Mank: The Wit, World, and Life of Herman Mankiewicz| url=https://archive.org/details/mankwitworldlife00mery| url-access=registration|publisher=William Morrow|year=1978|location=New York|page=[https://archive.org/details/mankwitworldlife00mery/page/100 100]| isbn=9780688033569}}</ref>

Called "Public Lover Number One", he dated several prominent actresses on Broadway.<ref name=wallace174>Wallace 2008, p. 174.</ref> Kaufman found himself in the center of a scandal in 1936 when, in the midst of a child custody suit, the former husband of actress [[Mary Astor]] threatened to publish one of Astor's diaries purportedly containing extremely explicit details of an affair between Kaufman and the actress.<ref name=wallace174/> The diary was eventually destroyed by the court, unread, in 1952, but details of the supposed contents were published in ''[[Confidential (magazine)|Confidential]]'' magazine, ''[[Hollywood Babylon]]'' by [[Kenneth Anger]] (both always have been considered unreliable sources)<ref>[https://latimesblogs.latimes.com/thedailymirror/2007/08/confidential--1.html ''Los Angeles Times'' piece about unreliability of ''Confidential'' magazine]</ref><ref>[http://thepurplediaries.com/2017/03/29/kenneth-angers-hollywood-babylon-fiction-verses-fact/ RS explains unreliability of Kenneth Anger’s Hollywood Babylon]</ref> and in various other questionable publications. Some of the sexually explicit portions of Mary Astor's writing about Kaufman were reprinted in ''[[New York (magazine)|New York]]'' magazine in 2012 and ''[[Vanity Fair (magazine)|Vanity Fair]]'' magazine in 2016.<ref name=NYmag>{{cite journal|title=Mary Astor Blushes When Her Filthy Diary Leaks|journal=[[New York (magazine)|New York]]|date=April 9, 2012|page=44|url=http://nymag.com/news/features/scandals/mary-astor-2012-4|access-date=September 26, 2016}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|url=http://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2016/09/inside-the-trial-of-actress-mary-astor-hollywoods-juiciest-sex-scandal|title=Inside the Trial of Actress Mary Astor, Old Hollywood's Juiciest Sex Scandal|last=Sorel|first=Edward|author-link=Edward Sorel|journal=[[Vanity Fair (magazine)|Vanity Fair]]|date=October 2016 |access-date=September 26, 2016}}</ref> Kaufman had an affair with actress [[Natalie Schafer]] during the 1940s.<ref>{{cite news |last=Brozan |first=Nadine |date=February 13, 1995 |title=Chronicle |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1995/02/13/nyregion/chronicle-058495.html |work=The New York Times |access-date=March 14, 2018 }}</ref>

Kaufman joined the theater club, The Lambs, in 1944.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://the-lambs.org/history/roster/ |title=Member Roster |date=November 6, 2015 |publisher=[[The Lambs]] |access-date=March 14, 2018 |archive-date=May 31, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220531032150/https://the-lambs.org/history/roster/ |url-status=dead }}</ref>

Kaufman was married to his first wife Beatrice from 1917 until her death in 1945.<ref name=beatrice/><ref>
{{cite news |date=October 7, 1945 |title=Beatrice Kaufman, Story Editor, Dies |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1945/10/07/archives/beatrice-kaufman-story-editor-dies-wife-of-noted-playwright-did.html
 |work=The New York Times |access-date=March 14, 2018 }}</ref> They had one daughter, Anne Kaufman (Booth).<ref name=beatrice/> Four years later, he married actress [[Leueen MacGrath]] on May 26, 1949,<ref>{{cite news |date=May 27, 1949 |title=George S. Kaufman Weds |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1949/05/27/archives/george-s-kaufman-weds-playwright-and-leueen-m-grathi-actress-marry-.html |work=The New York Times |access-date=March 14, 2018 }}</ref> with whom he collaborated on a number of plays before their divorce in August 1957. Kaufman died in New York City on June 2, 1961, at the age of 71.<ref name=obit>{{cite news |date=June 3, 1961 |title=George S. Kaufman Dies at 71 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1961/06/03/archives/george-s-kaufman-dies-at-71-shared-2-pulitzers-for-drama-cited-for.html |work=The New York Times |access-date=March 14, 2018 }}</ref> His granddaughter, [[Beatrice Colen]], was an actress who had recurring appearances on both ''[[Happy Days]]'' and ''[[Wonder Woman (TV series)|Wonder Woman]]''.<ref>[http://www.wonderland-site.com/html/miscel/bios/bios5.htm Beatrice Colen profile]. Wonderland: The Ultimate Lynda Carter Site; retrieved June 13, 2014.</ref>

In 1979, [[Donald Oliver]] compiled and edited a collection of Kaufman's humorous pieces, with a foreword by [[Dick Cavett]].<ref>Kaufman, George S. (Donald Oliver, compiler/editor) (1979). ''By George: A Kaufman Collection''. New York: St. Martin's Press, {{ISBN|0-312-11101-0}}.</ref>