Ketti Frings
Ketti Frings, born Katherine Hartley on February 28, 1909, in Columbus, Ohio, was an American writer, playwright, and screenwriter. She studied at Principia College and began her career as a copywriter before writing for United Press International. In 1941, her novel Hold Back the Dawn was made into a film directed by Mitchell Leisen, starring Olivia de Havilland and Charles Boyer.
Her first Broadway play, Mr. Sycamore, debuted in 1942 with Lillian Gish and Stuart Erwin in lead roles. Frings wrote several Hollywood screenplays, including Guest in the House (1944), The Accused (1949), The File on Thelma Jordon (1950), Come Back, Little Sheba (1952), About Mrs. Leslie (1954), The Shrike (1955), and Foxfire (1955).
She adapted Thomas Wolfe’s Look Homeward, Angel into a Broadway play that opened in 1957 and ran 564 performances at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre. She won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1958 for Look Homeward, Angel and was named Woman of the Year by the Los Angeles Times that same year.
Frings was married to film agent Kurt Frings from around 1938/39 until 1958, and they had two children, Kathie and Peter. She died of cancer on February 11, 1981, in Los Angeles, California.
This page was last edited on 2 February 2026, at 05:51 (CET).