Kerr, Walter Francis

Kerr, Walter Francis, 1913–96, American drama critic, b. Evanston, Ill. He wrote for the theater in the 1930s, and became drama critic for the New York Herald Tribune in 1951 and for the New York Times in 1966. His books include How Not to Write a Play (1955), The Decline of Pleasure (1962), The Theater in Spite of Itself (1963), and Tragedy and Comedy (1967). His book The Silent Clowns (1975) spurred a revival of interest in film comics of the twenties. He won a Pulitzer Prize for dramatic criticism in 1978.