Michael Kanin(1910-1993)
- Writer
- Producer
- Director
The older brother of writer/producer/director Garson Kanin, Michael Kanin
was a fine talent in his own right. After serving a creative
apprenticeship writing and acting in Catskill resort shows with his
brother, Kanin worked as a commercial artist and musician. In 1939 he
was signed to a screenwriting contract at RKO, where he met his future
wife and frequent collaborator 'Fay Mitchell'. With another collaborator,
Ring Lardner Jr., he won an Academy Award for his work on MGM's Woman of the Year (1942), and
later received a best screenplay Oscar nomination (along with his wife)
for the 1958 Clark Gable-Doris Day comedy Teacher's Pet (1958). Kanin went on to produce
the popular Ronald Colman melodrama A Double Life (1947), written by his brother Garson
and Ruth Gordon, and made a once-only stab at directing with the 1951
seriocomedy When I Grow Up (1951). After 1960, his work showed signs that he was a
bit out of touch with contemporary audiences; he retired shortly after
working on the anachronistic Bob Hope vehicle How to Commit Marriage (1969).
