Arthur Laurents (born July 14, 1918) is an award-winning American playwright, librettist, stage director, and screenwriter. His credits include the stage musicals West Side Story and Gypsy and the film The Way We Were.

Early life

Laurents, the son of a lawyer and a former schoolteacher who gave up her career when she married, was born and raised in the Flatbush section of Brooklyn, the elder of two children, and attended Erasmus Hall High School. His sister Edith suffered from chorea as a child, and as a result Laurents always felt protective towards her. His paternal grandparents were Orthodox Jews and his mother's parents, although born Jewish, were atheists. His mother kept a Kosher home for her husband's sake, but was lax about attending temple and observing the Jewish holidays. His Bar Mitzvah marked the end of Laurents' religious education and the beginning of his rejection of all fundamentalist religions,Laurents, Arthur, Original Story By. New York: Alfred A. Knopf 2000. ISBN 0-375-40055-9, pp. 6-7 although he continued to identify himself as Jewish.Laurents, p. 133