Ketti Frings, a renowned playwright and screenwriter, was born Katherine Hartley on February 28, 1909, in Columbus, Ohio. After graduating from Principia College, she began her career in the advertising industry as a copywriter before transitioning to journalism, writing features for United Press International. She then worked as a publicity agent, radio scriptwriter, and under the pen name Anita Kigore, wrote copy for movie magazines.
Her breakthrough came when her story, "Memo to a Movie Producer," was adapted by Charles Brackett and Billy Wilder into the 1941 movie Hold Back the Dawn, which received six Oscar nominations, including Best Picture. She later became a screenwriter, contributing to the screenplay of the 1943 adaptation of Jane Eyre.
In the 1950s, Frings adapted William Inge's Pulitzer Prize-winning play Come Back, Little Sheba, earning a Writers Guild of America Award nomination for Best Written American Drama. Her first Broadway play, "Mr. Sycamore," starring Lillian Gish, premiered in 1942 but was not a success, lasting only 19 performances.
However, her second Broadway play, "Look Homeward, Angel," won the 1958 Pulitzer Prize for drama and received the first of her two Tony Award nominations. The play was a hit, running for 564 performances. Her subsequent plays, "The Long Dream" and "Walking Happy," received mixed reviews, with "The Long Dream" closing after five performances and "Walking Happy" playing 161 performances.
In 1967, Frings was nominated for a Tony Award along with Roger O. Hirson for writing the book of "Walking Happy." Her last show on Broadway was the 1978 musical "Angel," adapted from her Pulitzer Prize-winning play, which closed after five performances. She also adapted her play for TV in 1972 and wrote the screenplay for the 1975 film adaptation of her first play, "Mr. Sycamore."
Frings married Kurt Frings in 1938 and had two children, Kathie and Peter, before divorcing in 1963. She passed away on February 11, 1981, a fortnight short of her 72nd birthday, due to cancer complications.
