Larry Kramer
Laurence David Kramer (June 25, 1935 – May 27, 2020) was an American playwright, author, film producer, public health advocate, and gay rights activist. He began his career rewriting scripts while working for Columbia Pictures, which led him to London, where he worked with United Artists. There he wrote the screenplay for the film Women in Love (1969) and received an Academy Award nomination for his work.
For other people named Larry Kramer, see Larry Kramer (disambiguation).
Larry Kramer
Laurence David Kramer
June 25, 1935
Bridgeport, Connecticut, U.S.
May 27, 2020 (aged 84)
New York City, U.S.
- Screenwriter
- novelist
- essayist
- playwright
- Gay community
- AIDS activism
1960s–2020
Arthur Kramer (brother)
In 1978, Kramer introduced a controversial and confrontational style in his novel Faggots, which earned mixed reviews and emphatic denunciations from elements within the gay community for Kramer's portrayal of what he characterized as shallow, promiscuous gay relationships in the 1970s.
Kramer witnessed the spread of the disease later known as Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS) among his friends in 1980. He co-founded the Gay Men's Health Crisis (GMHC), which has become the world's largest private organization assisting people living with AIDS. Kramer grew frustrated with bureaucratic paralysis and the apathy of gay men to the AIDS crisis, and wished to engage in further action than the social services GMHC provided. He expressed his frustration by writing a play titled The Normal Heart, produced at The Public Theater in New York City in 1985.
His political activism continued with the founding of the AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power (ACT UP) in 1987, an influential direct action protest organization with the aim of gaining more public action to fight the AIDS crisis. ACT UP has been widely credited with changing public health policy and the perception of people living with AIDS, and with raising awareness of HIV and AIDS-related diseases.[1]
Kramer was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for his play The Destiny of Me (1992), and he was a two-time recipient of the Obie Award.
Early life[edit]
Laurence David Kramer was born in Bridgeport, Connecticut, the younger of two children. His mother, Rea (née Wishengrad), worked as a shoe store employee, teacher, and social worker for Red Cross. His father, George Kramer, worked as a government attorney.[2] His older brother, Arthur Kramer was born in 1927. The family was Jewish.[3]
Kramer was considered an "unwanted child" by his parents, who struggled to find work during the American Great Depression.[4] When the family moved to Maryland, they found themselves in a much lower socioeconomic bracket than that of Kramer's high school peers. Kramer had become sexually involved with a male friend in junior high school. His father wanted him to marry a woman with money and pressured him to become a member of Pi Tau Pi, a Jewish fraternity.[5]
Kramer's father, older brother Arthur, and two uncles were alumni of Yale University.[6] Kramer enrolled at Yale College in 1953, where he had difficulty adjusting. He felt lonely, and earned lower grades than those to which he was accustomed. He attempted suicide by an overdose of aspirin because he felt like he was the "only gay student on campus".[6][7] The experience left him determined to explore his sexuality and set him on the path to fight "for gay people's worth".[6] The next semester, he had an affair with his German professor – his first requited romantic relationship with a man.[8] Kramer enjoyed the Varsity Glee Club during his remaining time at Yale,[9] and he graduated in 1957 with a degree in English.[10] He served in the U.S. Army Reserve before beginning his film writing and production career.[11]
