Wilder, Thornton (Niven)

(born April 17, 1897, Madison, Wis., U.S.—died Dec. 7, 1975, Hamden, Conn.) U.S. playwright and novelist. After attending Yale University, Wilder studied archaeology in Rome. He earned wide acclaim for his second novel, The Bridge of San Luis Rey (1927, Pulitzer Prize). His play Our Town (1938, Pulitzer Prize), which became one of the most enduringly popular of all American plays, was followed by the successful The Skin of Our Teeth (1942, Pulitzer Prize). In them he rejected naturalism, often discarding props and scenery, using deliberate anachronisms, and having the characters address the audience directly. His farcical play The Matchmaker (1954) was adapted into the musical Hello, Dolly! (1964). Wilder's later novels include The Eighth Day (1967) and Theophilus North (1973).

Wilder, Thornton (Niven) (1897–1975) novelist, playwright; born in Madison, Wis. Raised in China where his father was with the U.S. consular service, he graduated from Yale, took an M.A. from Princeton, then taught English at the Lawrenceville School and University of Chicago (1930–37), until he could afford to be a full-time writer. He wrote several novels, including the Pulitzer Prize-winning Bridge of San Luis Rey (1927). But he is best known for his Pulitzer Prize-winning plays, Our Town (1938), a story of small-town life, and The Skin of Our Teeth (1942), an allegory about humankind's close calls. The Matchmaker (1954) was reincarnated as the hit musical Hello, Dolly! in 1964.