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Robert Ardrey (October 16, 1908 – January 14, 1980) was an American playwright, screenwriter and science writer perhaps best known for The Territorial Imperative (1966). After a Broadway and Hollywood career, he returned to his academic training in anthropology and the behavioral sciences in the 1950s.

As a playwright and screenwriter Ardrey received many accolades. He was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1937,[3] won the inaugural Sidney Howard Memorial Award in 1940, and in 1966 received an Academy Award nomination for best screenplay for his script for Khartoum.[4] His most famous play, Thunder Rock, is widely considered an international classic.[5]: 63

Ardrey's scientific work played a major role in overturning long-standing assumptions in the social sciences. In particular, both African Genesis (1961) and The Territorial Imperative (1966), two of his most widely read works, were instrumental in changing scientific doctrine and increasing public awareness of evolutionary science.[6][7] His work was so popular that many prominent scientists cite it as inspiring them to enter their fields.

Life

Robert Ardrey was born in Chicago, the son of Robert Leslie Ardrey, an editor and publisher, and Marie (née Haswell). His father died in 1919 from pneumonia during the influenza epidemic and he was raised by his mother.[5]: 2 He grew up on the South Side of Chicago and attended the nearby University of Chicago, graduating Phi Beta Kappa in 1930 as a Ph.B.[10][3] While in attendance, he studied creative writing with Thornton Wilder, who would become his lifelong mentor.[3][5]: 4 [11]: 12–3, 15

His first play, Star Spangled, opened on Broadway in 1935 and lasted only a few days, but resulted in the award of a Guggenheim Fellowship.[3] The award granted Ardrey the financial independence to focus on writing plays. Several of his subsequent plays, including Casey Jones, How to Get Tough About It, and his most famous play, Thunder Rock, were produced on Broadway.

In 1938 he moved to Hollywood to work as a screenwriter for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer,[3] where he would eventually become MGM's highest paid writer.[12] There he wrote many screenplays, including those for adaptations such as The Three Musketeers[13] (1948, with Gene Kelly), Madame Bovary [14] (1949), The Secret Garden [15] (1949), and The Wonderful Country[16] (1959, with Robert Mitchum; The Wonderful Country also had a cameo from famed Negro leagues pitcher Satchel Paige[17]). He also wrote original screenplays, including the screenplay for Khartoum (1966, directed by Basil Dearden, starring Charlton Heston and Laurence Olivier) for which he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Writing, Story, and Screenplay.

During the 1950s Ardrey became increasingly disenchanted with Hollywood and what he saw as the growing role money had started to play in creative decisions.[18][19][20] At the same time and largely by accident, he renewed his interest in human origins and human behavior, which he had studied at the University of Chicago.[3] In the summer of 1956 he moved with his wife and two sons to Geneva. He spent the following years traveling in Southern and Eastern Africa, conducting research for what was to become his first book on the subject, African Genesis (1961), ultimately an international bestseller. Subsequently, he went on to write a total of four books in his widely read Nature of Man Series, including his best known book The Territorial Imperative (1966).

In October 1960 he moved with his second wife to Trastevere, Rome, where they lived for 17 years. In 1977 they moved to a small town named Kalk Bay just outside Cape Town, South Africa.[3] He continued to publish influential works until his death on January 14, 1980. His ashes, along with those of his wife, are interred in the Holy Trinity Church overlooking False Bay.

Courtesy – Wikipedia
- Robert Ardrey

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