James Thurber

Established in 1997, the annual honors outstanding examples of American humor.^[18]

In 2008, the selected Thurber's story, "A Sort of Genius", first published in The New Yorker, for inclusion in its two-century retrospective of American True Crime.^[19]

Two of his residences have been listed on the U.S. : his childhood Thurber House in Ohio and the Sanford–Curtis–Thurber House in Fairfield County, Connecticut.^[20][21]

Thurber teamed with college schoolmate (and actor/director) to write The Male Animal, a comic drama that became a major Broadway hit in 1939. The play was adapted as a film by the same name in 1942, starring Henry Fonda, Olivia de Havilland and Jack Carson.

In 1947 his short story "", was loosely adapted as a film by the same name. Danny Kaye played the title character.

In 1951 announced an animated feature to be based on Thurber's work, titled Men, Women and Dogs.^[30] The only part of the ambitious project that was eventually released was the UPA cartoon The Unicorn in the Garden (1953).^[31]

In 1958, Thurber's short story "One Is a Wanderer" was adapted for ,^[32] resulting in Emmy nominations for writer Samuel Taylor and director Herschel Daugherty.^[33]

The 1959 film was based on Thurber's 1942 short story "The Catbird Seat".

In 1960, Thurber fulfilled a long-standing desire to be on the professional stage and played himself in 88 performances of the revue (which echoes the title of his 1945 book, The Thurber Carnival). It was based on a selection of Thurber's stories and cartoon captions. Thurber appeared in the sketch "File and Forget". The sketch consists of Thurber dictating a series of letters in a vain attempt to keep one of his publishers from sending him books he did not order, and the escalating confusion of the replies.^[34] Thurber received a Special Tony Award for the adapted script of the Carnival.^[35]

In 1961, "The Secret Life of James Thurber" aired on . Adolphe Menjou appeared in the program as Fitch, and Orson Bean and Sue Randall portrayed John and Ellen Monroe.

In 1969–70, a full series based on Thurber's writings and life, titled , was broadcast on NBC. It starred William Windom as the Thurber figure. Featuring animated portions in addition to live actors, the show won a 1970 Emmy Award as the year's best comedy series. Windom won an Emmy as well. He went on to perform Thurber material in a one-man stage show.

In 1972 another film adaptation, , starring Jack Lemmon, concludes with an animated version of Thurber's classic anti-war work "The Last Flower".

In 2013, a new of The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, starring Ben Stiller as the title character.

Beginning during his own father's terminal illness, television broadcaster read excerpts from Thurber's short stories during the closing segment of his MSNBC program Countdown with Keith Olbermann on Fridays, which he called "Fridays with Thurber."^[36] He reintroduced this during the COVID-19 pandemic of 2020, reading Thurber stories daily at 8:00 p.m. EDT on Twitter.

On an episode of 's video podcast, Norm Macdonald Live, Norm tells a story in which comedian Larry Miller acknowledges that his biggest influence in comedy was Thurber.

In 2021 film by Wes Anderson, he was mentioned in the end title credits as inspiration.

, (1929 with E. B. White),

(August 1, 1956). "James Thurber: In Conversation With Alistair Cooke". The Atlantic. Retrieved April 23, 2023.

based on "The Catbird Seat"

expression

– overseen by the Thurber estate and editor Michael J. Rosen

playlist on YouTube