Fanya Foss

Fanya Foss (sometimes credited as Fanya Lawrence or F.A. Foss) was a Ukraine-born American screenwriter, short story writer, and television writer active in Hollywood during the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s. She was married to actor-filmmaker Marc Lawrence, with whom she had a daughter, actress Toni Lawrence (ex-wife of Billy Bob Thornton), and a son, artist Michael Lawrence.

Fanya Foss
BornOctober 4, 1906
Odessa, Odessa, Ukraine
DiedDecember 12, 1995 (aged 89)
Palm Springs, California, USA
EducationJuilliard School
OccupationScreenwriter, TV writer
Spouse(s)Edward Dahlberg (div.)
Gordon Kingman (div.)
Marc Lawrence (m. 1942)
Children2

Biography

Fanya was born into a Jewish family[1] in Odessa, Ukraine, in 1906, and moved to New York City with her family when she was a year old.[2] Against her parents' wishes, she married her first husband, the writer Edward Dahlberg, while she was only 17; that marriage would end in divorce.[3] As a talented young singer, she won a scholarship to Juilliard and toured Paris.[4][5] She later married Gordon Kingman (this marriage also ended).[6]

She returned to New York City and took a position as a librarian at Columbia University before she began working at The Brooklyn Eagle as a reporter and then became an editor at a publishing house, where she specialized in travel books.[4][6] Her stint as a literary editor led her to some travels of her own; she left NYC with $25, determined to see the country. During this trip, she ended up working in various bookstores and art shops; while on the road, she learned one of her mystery thriller scripts had sold to RKO.[4]

She met character actor Marc Lawrence while working in Hollywood; the pair were married in Las Vegas in 1942.[7] After the 1940s, she concentrated primarily on writing television, although she did collaborate with her husband on films like 1965's Nightmare in the Sun and 1973's Pigs.[8] The pair lived in Rome in the 1950s to avoid the Hollywood blacklist.[2][9] Fanya was a member of the Screen Writers Guild.[10]

She died in Palm Springs, California, on December 12, 1995.[11][5]

Selected filmography

References
  1. Zigmond, Helen (28 Mar 1941). "Our Film Folk". The Wisconsin Jewish Chronicle. Retrieved 2019-09-13.
  2. "Gangster actor to read play script". The Desert Sun. 6 Feb 2000. Retrieved 2019-09-13.
  3. Lawrence, Michael (2015-12-10). Loaded Brush. Fast-Print Publishing. ISBN 9781784560713.
  4. "Lee Side o' L.A." The Los Angeles Times. 8 Jul 1943. Retrieved 2019-09-13.
  5. "Fanya Foss Lawrence; Screenwriter, Poet, Novelist". Los Angeles Times. 1995-12-19. Retrieved 2019-09-13.
  6. Hoban, Phoebe (2010-12-07). Alice Neel: The Art of Not Sitting Pretty. St. Martin's Press. ISBN 9781429956765.
  7. "Actor, Writer Wed". The New York Daily News. 24 Dec 1942. Retrieved 2019-09-13.
  8. "News of the Movies". The News Leader. 27 Jul 1966. Retrieved 2019-09-13.
  9. McClellan, Dennis (3 Dec 2004). "Marc Lawrence, 95; Prolific Actor". The Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2019-09-13.
  10. Subotnik, Nadine (4 Apr 1943). "Radio". The Cedar Rapids Gazette. Retrieved 2019-09-13.
  11. "Fanya Foss-Lawrence". The Desert Sun. 16 Dec 1995. Retrieved 2019-09-13.
  12. "Film Indicts Folly". The New York Daily News. 4 Aug 1945. Retrieved 2019-09-13.
  13. "Caliban from Caleb". The Enterprise-Journal. 10 Jul 1941. Retrieved 2019-09-13.
  14. "Hollywood Gossip". The Sydney Morning Herald. 3 Oct 1940. Retrieved 2019-09-13.
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