Robert Woodruff Anderson
Robert Woodruff Anderson, leading playwright, screenwriter and producer, is probably best-remembered as the author of Tea and Sympathy. He was born on April 28, 1917 in New York City. Soon after, his family moved to a large home in New Rochelle's Residence Park neighborhood. Anderson attended Thornton Donovan School when it was located on Centre Avenue, just a few blocks from his house at 99 Elm Street. His fond memories of attending Junior Garden Club meetings at the New Rochelle Public Library, when it was located at the corner of Main Street and Pintard Avenue, were included in NRPL's 100th Anniversary journal. Anderson had mailed his reminiscences for the 1994 occasion.
He followed in his brother's footsteps, attending Phillips Exeter Academy. While a student at the New Hampshire prep school he fell in love with an older woman. The experience became the basis of Tea and Sympathy. Anderson earned graduate and master's degrees from Harvard University.
Serving in World War II, Navy Lieutenant Anderson was awarded the Bronze Star Medal for "meritorious achievement against the enemy" on Iwo Jima and Okinawa. While serving, he also won first prize in the 1945 National Theater Conference playwriting contest, topping the 697 scripts submitted by individuals representing all the armed forces. About Anderson's winning play, theater producer and contest judge Arthur Hopkins wrote, "'Come Marching Home' is the one I like best. The author should be encouraged to continue playwriting."
Anderson's most well-known play, Tea and Sympathy, made its Broadway debut in 1953, and was directed by Elia Kazan, who coincidentally, also grew up in New Rochelle. The successful play was made into an MGM film in 1956. Both play and movie starred Deborah Kerr, John Kerr and Leif Erickson. Between 1959 and 1968, Anderson's hit Broadway shows included Silent Night, Lonely Night; You Know I Can't Hear You When the Water's Running; and I Never Sang for My Father.
During the same decade he wrote the screenplays for Until They Sail, The Nun's Story (which received an Oscar nomination), and The Sand Pebbles. His 1970 screen adaptation of I Never Sang for My Father also earned him an Academy nomination. Anderson also wrote scripts for many television dramas, as well as novels.
Married to Phyllis Stohl from 1940 until her untimely death in 1956, Anderson wed actress Teresa Wright three years later (Interestingly, Wright played the wife of Lou Gehrig in the film Pride of the Yankees. Robert Anderson's childhood home was across the street from the Gehrig's New Rochelle home at 9 Meadow Lane). The couple divorced in 1978. Following a seven-year battle with Alzheimer's disease, Anderson died of pneumonia on February 9, 2009 at his New York City home in Manhattan.
Late-night television host Jay Leno began his show business career as a standup comedian. He performed his comedy routines around the country making as many as 300 appearances a year. Eventually, he procured a spot as guest host of the popular late-night program the Tonight Show starring Johnny Carson. With Carson's retirement from the show, Leno stepped in as his successor, beating out other contenders including David Letterman. Soon dubbed the "King of Late Night" by the media, Leno's Tonight Show began topping late-night television ratings in 1995 and became a dominant force by the late 1990s.
Jay Leno
Born James Douglas Muir Leno on April 28, 1950, in New Rochelle, Jay Leno was the son on an Italian-American father and a Scottish mother whom he claims had a "Gracie Allen type of humor."
He grew up in a house still located at 69 Leland Avenue. Leno attended Trinity School before his family moved to Massachusetts in 1959 but his relatives remained in New Rochelle. His uncle, Anthony, started the popular establishment Leno's Clam Bar (AKA "Greasy Nick's") on Pelham Road (although that side of the family pronounces the name "Leeno"). He apparently has always had a heart for comedy. His fifth-grade report card read, "If Jay spent as much time studying as he does trying to be a comedian, he'd be a big star."
Jay Leno is well known for his philanthropy. He won Emmy Awards in 1995 and 2011, and has been nominated numerous times. Leno has been honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, and was inducted into the New Rochelle Walk of Fame in 2013.
These sketches were written by Barbara Davis, City Historian and NRPL Community Relations Coordinator, and Rod Kennedy, founder of the New Rochelle Walk of Fame.
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