Thornton Niven Wilder Chronology
This Wilder chronology, provided by the Wilder family, details the long, incredible life of the acclaimed American playwright and novelist.
1897
Born in Madison, Wisconsin (April 17
1906
Moves to Hong Kong in May and to Berkeley, California in October
1906–10
Emerson Public School in Berkeley
1910–11
China Inland Mission School, Chefoo, China (one year)
1912–13
Thacher School, Ojai, CA (one year). First play known to be produced: The Russian Princess
1915
Graduates from Berkeley High School; active in school dramatics
1915–17
Oberlin College; published regularly
1920
B.A. Yale College (3-month service in 1918 with U.S. Army in 1918); many publications
1920–21
American Academy in Rome (8-month residency)
1920s
French teacher at Lawrenceville School, Lawrenceville, New Jersey (1921–1925 & 1927–1928)
1924
First visit to the MacDowell Colony, Peterborough, New Hampshire
1926
M.A. in French Literature, Princeton University
The Trumpet Shall Sound produced off-Broadway (American Laboratory Theatre)
The Cabala (first novel)
1927
The Bridge of San Luis Rey (novel – Pulitzer Prize)
1928
The Angel That Troubled The Waters (first published collection of drama – playlets)
1930s
Part-time faculty, University of Chicago (comparative literature and composition); lectures across the country; first Hollywood screen-writing assignment (1934); extensive foreign travel
1930
The Woman of Andros (novel)
Completion of home for his family and himself in Hamden, Connecticut
1931
The Long Christmas Dinner and Other Plays (six one-act plays)
1932
Lucrece opens on Broadway staring Katharine Cornell (translation of André Obey’s Le Viol de Lucrèce)
1935
Heaven’s My Destination (novel)
1937
A Doll’s House (adaptation/translation) opens on Broadway with Ruth Gordon
1938
Our Town (Pulitzer Prize) and The Merchant of Yonkers open on Broadway
1942
The Skin of Our Teeth opens on Broadway (Pulitzer Prize)
Screenplay for Alfred Hitchcock’s The Shadow of a Doubt
1942–45
Service with Army Air Force in North Africa and Italy (Lieut. Col. at discharge – Bronze Star and O.B.E.)
1948
The Ides of March (novel); performing in his plays in summer stock in this period
The Victors opens off-Broadway (translation of Sartre’s Morts sans sépulture)
1949
Major role in Goethe Convocation in Aspen; lectures widely
1951–52
Charles Eliot Norton Professor of Poetry at Harvard
1952
Gold Medal for Fiction, American Academy of Arts and Letters
1953
Cover of Time Magazine (January 12)
1955
The Matchmaker opens on Broadway staring Ruth Gordon
The Alcestiad produced at Edinburgh Festival with Irene Worth (as A Life in the Sun)
1957
German Peace Prize
1961
Libretto for The Long Christmas Dinner (music by Paul Hindemith – premieres in Mannheim, West Germany)
1962
“Plays for Bleecker Street” (Someone from Assisi, Infancy, and Childhood) premiere at NYC’s Circle in the Square
Libretto for The Alcestiad (music by Louise Talma – premieres in Frankfurt, West Germany)
1963
Presidential Medal of Freedom
1964
Hello, Dolly! (based on Wilder’s The Matchmaker) opens on Broadway starring Carol Channing
1965
National Book Committee’s Medal for Literature
1967
The Eighth Day (National Book Award for Fiction)
1973
Theophilus North (novel)
1975
Dies in sleep in Hamden, CT on December 7. Buried at Mt. Carmel Cemetery, Hamden, Connecticut
Seattle Rep