  moss hart (october 24, 1904 â december 20, 1961) was an american playwright and theatre director. ==early years== hart was born in new york city and grew up in relative poverty with his english-born jewish immigrant parents in the bronx and in sea gate, brooklyn.moss hart profile: the early years early on he had a strong relationship with his aunt kate, with whom he later lost contact due to a falling out between her and his parents, and kate's weakening mental state. she piqued his interest in the theater and took him to see performances often. hart even went so far as to create an "alternate ending" to her life in his book act one. he writes that she died while he was working on out-of-town tryouts for the beloved bandit. later, kate became eccentric and then disturbed, vandalizing hart's home, writing threatening letters and setting fires backstage during rehearsals for jubilee. but his relationship with her was formative. he learned that the theater made possible "the art of being somebody elseâ¦ not a scrawny boy with bad teeth, a funny nameâ¦ and a mother who was a distant drudge." ==career== after working several years as a director of amateur theatrical groups and an entertainment director at summer resorts, he scored his first broadway hit with once in a lifetime (1930), a farce about the arrival of the sound era in hollywood. the play was written in collaboration with broadway veteran george s. kaufman, who regularly wrote with others, notably marc connelly and edna ferber. (kaufman also performed in the play's original broadway cast in the role of a frustrated playwright hired by hollywood.) during the next decade, kaufman and hart teamed on a string of successes, including you can't take it with you (1936) and the man who came to dinner (1939). though kaufman had hits with others, hart is generally conceded to be his most important collaborator. you can't take it with you, the story of an eccentric family and how they live during the depression, won the 1937 pulitzer prize for drama. it is hart's most-revived play. when director frank capra and writer robert riskin adapt
1904_births 1961_deaths 20th-century_American_dramatists_and_playwrights American_Jews American_Theater_Hall_of_Fame_inductees American_dramatists_and_playwrights American_people_of_English_descent American_theatre_directors Burials_at_Ferncliff_Cemetery Cardiovascular_disease_deaths_in_California Deaths_from_myocardial_infarction Donaldson_Award_winners People_with_bipolar_disorder Plays_by_Moss_Hart Pulitzer_Prize_for_Drama_winners Tony_Award_winners Writers_from_New_York_City Writers_from_Palm_Springs,_California