“s Corners, New Hampshire. It was inspired in part by Dante”
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Thornton Wilder
Thornton Niven Wilder was an American playwright and novelist. He won three Pulitzer Prizes, for the novel The Bridge of San Luis Rey and for the plays Our Town and The Skin of Our Teeth, and a U.S. National Book Award for the novel The Eighth Day.
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culture · American playwright and novelist (1897–1975) · playwright · novelist · screenwriter · writer · librettist · also Thornton Wilder, Thornton Niven Wilder, Wilder
Born 17 April 1897 · Died 7 December 1975 · Q155087
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2026· 7 entries
Legacy obituary: Bonnie Yunker Obituary (2026) - New Smyrna Beach, FL - Settle-Wilder Funeral Home and Cremation Service - New Smyrna Beach
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iLovetheUpperWestSide.com: Youman Wilder, the Coach Who Stood Between ICE Agents and His Players in Riverside Park, Has Died at 63
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cbs42.com: Pastor Thomas Wilder discuss upcoming National Healing and Reconciliation Conference happening in Birmingham
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The Nerd Daily: Exclusive Cover Reveal: To Have and to Hold (Captive) by K.N. Wilder
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IMDb: Average Joe Season 2 Is Bigger, Wilder, and More Unhinged — Stars Tease What’s Ahead
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American Songwriter: Louder, Wilder, and Unapologetic: 3 Rock Vocalists Who Proved the 1970s Were Unmatched
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2024· 1 entry
At Alley Theatre in Houston and receiving an Off-Broadway run in 2026, the play follows John, an orphan who arrives in a vast, mysterious department store—the titular Emporium—that seems to contain everything yet offers
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2013· 1 entry
Claimed Wilder had become infatuated with a man, not identified by Gottlieb, and Wilder's feelings were not reciprocated
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2011· 1 entry
Containing his last two novels The Eighth Day and Theophilus North, as well as four autobiographical sketches
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2009· 3 entries
Thornton Wilder at the Internet Off-Broadway Database (archived)
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It "attack[ed] the big questions head on,
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A second volume was released, containing his first five novels, six early stories, and four essays on fiction
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2007· 1 entry
Together with some of his writings on the theater and the screenplay of Shadow of a Doubt
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1975· 6 entries
Died 1975-12-07.
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“Many who have spent a lifetime in it can tell us less of love than the child that lost a dog yesterday.”
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“The most valuable thing I inherited was a temperament that does not revolt against Necessity and that is constantly renewed in Hope.”
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“Love, though it expends itself in generosity and thoughtfulness, though it gives birth to visions and to great poetry, remains among the sharpest expressions of self-interest. Not until it has passed through a long servitude, through its own self-hatred, through mockery, through great doubts, can it take its place among the loyalties.”
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“Marriage is a bribe to make a housekeeper think she's a householder.”
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“Os grandes momentos da vida vêm por si mesmo. Não tem sentido esperá-los.”
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1974· 1 entry
Won James Madison Medal (1974).
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1968· 2 entries
Awarded National Book Award (1968).
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Won the National Book Award for his novel The Eighth Day
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1963· 1 entry
Won Presidential Medal of Freedom presented by Lyndon B. Johnson (1963).
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1962· 1 entry
And 1963, Wilder lived for 20 months in the small town of Douglas, Arizona, apart from family and friends
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1960· 1 entry
Wilder was awarded the first ever Edward MacDowell Medal by The MacDowell Colony for outstanding contributions to American culture
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1959· 2 entries
Awarded Goethe Plaque of the City of Frankfurt (1959).
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Awarded Austrian Decoration for Science and Art (1959).
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1957· 2 entries
Awarded Peace Prize of the German Publishers' and Booksellers' Association (1957).
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And the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1963
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1955· 1 entry
And enjoyed a healthy Broadway run of 486 performances with Ruth Gordon in the title role, winning a Tony Award for Guthrie, its director
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1954· 1 entry
Tyrone Guthrie encouraged Wilder to rework The Merchant of Yonkers into The Matchmaker
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1943· 1 entry
Awarded Pulitzer Prize for Drama for The Skin of Our Teeth (1943).
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1942· 1 entry
Featuring Fredric March and Tallulah Bankhead
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1941· 1 entry
Career landmark: president (1941–1946).
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1938· 3 entries
Awarded Pulitzer Prize for Drama for Our Town (1938).
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Won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama for his play Our Town, and he won the prize again in 1943 for his play The Skin of Our Teeth
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Max Reinhardt directed a Broadway production of The Merchant of Yonkers, which Wilder had adapted from Austrian playwright Johann Nestroy's Einen Jux will er sich machen (1942)
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1937· 1 entry
Gertrude Stein had given Steward, then a college professor, a letter of introduction to Wilder
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1930· 1 entry
Wilder had a house built for his family in Hamden, Connecticut, designed by Alice Trythall Washburn, one of the few female architects working at the time
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1928· 1 entry
And in 1998 it was selected by the editorial board of the American Modern Library as one of the 100 best novels of the twentieth century
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1927· 1 entry
The Bridge of San Luis Rey brought him commercial success and his first Pulitzer Prize (1928)
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1920· 1 entry
At Yale University, where he refined his writing skills as a member of the Alpha Delta Phi fraternity, a literary society
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1912· 1 entry
Because of the unstable political conditions in China at the time
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1897· 1 entry
Born 1897-04-17.
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