Sylvia’s CREATOR

Albert Ramsdell Gurney on November 1, 1930, he was called “Pete” by friends inside and outside the theater. Asked in an interview why the nickname Pete, Gurney responded, “I can’t explain it. I’m a Junior. My father was called Bert. I have an uncle Al. So, I think my mother, I don’t know why – maybe she knew someone she liked named Peter – but she just called me Peter. And it became an issue because most people outside Buffalo called me Pete. And anybody who knew me in Buffalo called me Pete.” Realizing this response didn’t clear up anything, Gurney added, “There are other people who use Peter as a nickname.” “Who?” he was asked.

Laughing, he responded, “I can’t think of any!”

Gurney grew up in Buffalo, NY when it was one of the leading industrial cities in the country. As a playwright, he was a late bloomer. Educated at Williams College, he served a stint in the Navy, then studied playwriting at the Yale School of Drama. Though he began writing plays in the late ‘60s, he entered academia, teaching literature at MIT until he was in his 50s.

In June 1957, Gurney married Molly Goodyear and they lived in Boston until 1983. They had four children. Only then did he move to New York to be near the theater, television, and publishers while he was on sabbatical from MIT.