IRWIN G. SHAMFOROFF, THE SHORT STORIES AUTHOR

Today, The Grandma is relaxing at home. She has decided to read, and she has chosen Irwin Shaw, the American playwright, screenwriter, novelist, and short-story author, who died on a day like today in 1984.

Irwin Shaw (February 27, 1913-May 16, 1984) was an American playwright, screenwriter, novelist, and short-story author whose written works have sold more than 14 million copies.

He is best known for two of his novels: The Young Lions (1948), about the fate of three soldiers during World War II, which was made into a film of the same name starring Marlon Brando and Montgomery Clift, and Rich Man, Poor Man (1970), about the fate of two brothers and a sister in the post-World War II decades which in 1976 was made into a popular miniseries starring Peter Strauss, Nick Nolte, and Susan Blakely.

Shaw was born Irwin Gilbert Shamforoff in the South Bronx, New York City, to Jewish immigrants from Russia. His parents were Rose and Will. His younger brother, David Shaw, became a noted Hollywood producer and writer. Shortly after Irwin's birth, the Shamforoffs moved to Brooklyn. Irwin changed his surname upon entering college. He spent most of his youth in Brooklyn, where he graduated from Brooklyn College with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1934.

He began screenwriting in 1935 at age 21. In 1939, he married actress and producer Marian Edwards, daughter of silent film actor Snitz Edwards. The couple divorced in 1967, remarrying two years before Irwin's death in 1982.

During World War II, he was approached by William Wyler to join his film unit. Unable to be commissioned as an officer due to his age and 1-A draft status, Shaw decided to enter the Regular Army. Later, the Army, noting his background, sent him to George Stevens' film unit. He was one of four writers attached to Stevens' command, in which he became a warrant officer. After the war, he returned to his career as a writer.

Shaw died in Davos, Switzerland on May 16, 1984, at age 71, after undergoing treatment for prostate cancer.

Shaw was highly regarded as a short story author, contributing to Collier's, Esquire, The New Yorker, Playboy, The Saturday Evening Post, and other magazines; and 63 of his best stories were collected in Short Stories: Five Decades (Delacorte, 1978), reprinted in 2000 as a 784-page University of Chicago Press paperback.

Among his noted short stories are: Sailor Off The Bremen, The Eighty-Yard Run, and Tip On A Dead Jockey. Three of his stories (The Girls in Their Summer Dresses, The Monument, The Man Who Married a French Wife) were dramatized for the PBS series Great Performances.

In 1950, Shaw wrote a book on Israel with photos by Robert Capa named Report on Israel.

More information: Archive

 There are too many books I haven't read,
too many places I haven't seen,
too many memories I haven't kept long enough.

Irwin Shaw