John Lahr

John Lahr is the author of 15 books. Among them are his bestselling biographies of his father, Bert Lahr (Notes on a Cowardly Lion) and the playwright Joe Orton (Prick Up Your Ears, which was made into a feature film). His Dame Edna Everage and the Rise of Western Civilization: Backstage with Barry Humphries was awarded the British 1992 Roger Machell Prize for the best book on the performing arts. Lahr has twice won the ASCAP-Deems Taylor Award for excellence in writing about music. He has also twice won the George Jean Nathan Award for Dramatic Criticism, first in 1969, when he was drama critic for The Village Voice and Evergreen Review, and in 1995 for his work at The New Yorker. His stage adaptations have been performed at London’s Royal National Theatre, in the West End, at the Royal Exchange in Manchester, and at the Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles. His short film (directed by John Hancock) Sticky My Fingers, Fleet My Feet was nominated for an Academy Award. He lives in London.