R.I.P. Arthur Laurents (1917-2011)

Playwright-screenwriter Arthur Laurents has died.

Laurents, who was 93, died in his sleep. Best known for writing the book for the Broadway smashes West Side Story Anastasia and Gypsy the New York-born Laurents also penned several screenplays, among them those for Rope  Otto Preminger's Bonjour Tristesse and Herbert Ross' The Turning Point Despite his personal experience as a victim of the anti-Red hysteria that hit the industry in the late '40s and early '50s, known as Hollywood blacklist

Laurents' screenplay for Sydney Pollack's The Way We Were  partly set during that time, was considered by many a disappointing mess. Laurents blamed star Barbra Streisand and others involved in the production for the final result.

In March, he said that a conversation with the musical's lyricist, Stephen Sondheim, convinced him there shouldn't be another "Gypsy" movie.

"He said, 'What is the point of it?' And I said, 'They have this terrible version with Rosalind Russell  wearing those black and white shoes.' And then Sondheim told me something that he got from the British -- and it's wonderful. He said, 'You want a record because the theater is ephemeral. But it's wrong. The theater's greatest essence is that it is ephemeral. You don't need a record. The fact that it's ephemeral means you can have different productions, different Roses on into infinity. So I don't want it now. I don't want a definitive record. I want it to stay alive"