Olive Higgins Prouty (10 January 1882 – 24 March 1974) was an
AmericanThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
novelist, best known for her pioneering consideration of
psychotherapyPsychotherapy or personal counseling with a psychotherapist, is an intentional interpersonal relationship used by trained psychotherapists to aid a client or patient in problems of living.It aims to increase the individual's sense of their own well-being...
in
Now, VoyagerNow, Voyager is a 1942 American drama film directed by Irving Rapper. The screenplay by Casey Robinson is based on the 1941 novel of the same name by Olive Higgins Prouty, who borrowed her title from a line in the Walt Whitman poem "The Untold Want," which reads in its entirety, "The untold want by...
(made into a movie starring
Bette DavisRuth Elizabeth "Bette" Davis was an American actress of film, television and theatre. Noted for her willingness to play unsympathetic characters, she was highly regarded for her performances in a range of film genres; from contemporary crime melodramas to historical and period films and occasional...
) and her feminist
melodramaThe theatrical genre of melodrama uses theme-music to manipulate the spectator's emotional response and to denote character types. The term combines "melody" and "drama" . While the use of music is nearly ubiquitous in modern film, in most cases it is used within a fairly rigid structure...
Stella Dallas. The latter was used as the basis for two successful films - the
1937 versionStella Dallas is a 1937 film based on the novel of the same name. It stars Barbara Stanwyck, John Boles, Anne Shirley, Barbara O'Neil, Alan Hale, Sr., Marjorie Main and Tim Holt. It was adapted by Joe Bigelow, Harry Wagstaff Gribble, Victor Heerman, Sarah Y. Mason and Gertrude Purcell from the...
, which starred
Barbara StanwyckBarbara Stanwyck was an American actress, a star of film and television, known during her 60-year career as a consummate and versatile professional with a strong screen presence, and a favorite of directors such as Cecil B. DeMille, Fritz Lang and Frank Capra...
, was nominated for two Academy Awards - and a radio
serialSerials in television and radio are series that rely on a continuing plot that unfolds in a serial fashion, episode by episode. Serials typically follow main story arcs that span entire seasons or even the full run of the series, which distinguishes them from traditional episodic television that...
which was broadcast daily for 18 years, despite Prouty's legal efforts (since she had not authorized the sale of the broadcast rights, and was displeased with her characters' portrayals).
Prouty is also known for her philanthropic works, and for her resulting association with
Sylvia PlathSylvia Plath was an American poet, novelist, children's author, and short story author.Known primarily for her poetry, Plath also wrote a semi-autobiographical novel, The Bell Jar, under the pseudonym Victoria Lucas...
, whom she encountered as a result of endowing a
Smith CollegeSmith College is a private, independent women's liberal arts college located in Northampton, Massachusetts. It is the largest member of the Seven Sisters...
scholarship for "promising young writers".
Olive Higgins Prouty (10 January 1882 – 24 March 1974) was an
AmericanThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
novelist, best known for her pioneering consideration of
psychotherapyPsychotherapy or personal counseling with a psychotherapist, is an intentional interpersonal relationship used by trained psychotherapists to aid a client or patient in problems of living.It aims to increase the individual's sense of their own well-being...
in
Now, VoyagerNow, Voyager is a 1942 American drama film directed by Irving Rapper. The screenplay by Casey Robinson is based on the 1941 novel of the same name by Olive Higgins Prouty, who borrowed her title from a line in the Walt Whitman poem "The Untold Want," which reads in its entirety, "The untold want by...
(made into a movie starring
Bette DavisRuth Elizabeth "Bette" Davis was an American actress of film, television and theatre. Noted for her willingness to play unsympathetic characters, she was highly regarded for her performances in a range of film genres; from contemporary crime melodramas to historical and period films and occasional...
) and her feminist
melodramaThe theatrical genre of melodrama uses theme-music to manipulate the spectator's emotional response and to denote character types. The term combines "melody" and "drama" . While the use of music is nearly ubiquitous in modern film, in most cases it is used within a fairly rigid structure...
Stella Dallas. The latter was used as the basis for two successful films - the
1937 versionStella Dallas is a 1937 film based on the novel of the same name. It stars Barbara Stanwyck, John Boles, Anne Shirley, Barbara O'Neil, Alan Hale, Sr., Marjorie Main and Tim Holt. It was adapted by Joe Bigelow, Harry Wagstaff Gribble, Victor Heerman, Sarah Y. Mason and Gertrude Purcell from the...
, which starred
Barbara StanwyckBarbara Stanwyck was an American actress, a star of film and television, known during her 60-year career as a consummate and versatile professional with a strong screen presence, and a favorite of directors such as Cecil B. DeMille, Fritz Lang and Frank Capra...
, was nominated for two Academy Awards - and a radio
serialSerials in television and radio are series that rely on a continuing plot that unfolds in a serial fashion, episode by episode. Serials typically follow main story arcs that span entire seasons or even the full run of the series, which distinguishes them from traditional episodic television that...
which was broadcast daily for 18 years, despite Prouty's legal efforts (since she had not authorized the sale of the broadcast rights, and was displeased with her characters' portrayals).
Prouty is also known for her philanthropic works, and for her resulting association with
Sylvia PlathSylvia Plath was an American poet, novelist, children's author, and short story author.Known primarily for her poetry, Plath also wrote a semi-autobiographical novel, The Bell Jar, under the pseudonym Victoria Lucas...
, whom she encountered as a result of endowing a
Smith CollegeSmith College is a private, independent women's liberal arts college located in Northampton, Massachusetts. It is the largest member of the Seven Sisters...
scholarship for "promising young writers". She supported Plath financially in the wake of Plath's unsuccessful 1953
suicideSuicide is the intentional killing of one's self. Many dictionaries also note the metaphorical sense of "willful destruction of one's self-interest"...
attempt; subsequently, Plath used Prouty as the basis of the character of "Philomena Guinea" in her 1963 novel,
The Bell JarThe Bell Jar is American writer and poet Sylvia Plath's only novel, which was originally published under the pseudonym "Victoria Lucas" in 1963. The novel is semi-autobiographical with the names of places and people changed...
.
In 1961, Prouty wrote her memoirs but, as her public profile had diminished, could not find a publisher; she had them printed at her own expense.
Family
Olive married Lewis Prouty in 1907; they had three children, two of whom predeceased their mother.
Retirement
Prouty wrote her last novel in 1951, the year of her husband's death. For the rest of her life she lived quietly in the house in
Brookline, MassachusettsBrookline is a town in Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States, which borders on the cities of Boston and Newton. As of the 2000 census, the population of the town was 57,107.-Etymology:...
, where she had moved in 1913. In old age she found comfort in her friendships, her charitable work, and the Unitarian church, First Parish in Brookline, which the Proutys had joined in the early 1920s.
External links