American playwright Clyde Fitch was BOTD in 1865. Born in New York City, he was educated at Amherst College, dazzling his fellow students with his flamboyant dress sense and love of acting. He became the most successful American playwright of the late 19th century, writing and producing over 60 comedies which were huge successes on Broadway and in London, and helping launch the careers of actors Richard Mansfield and Ethel Barrymore (great-aunt of Drew). He was also one of the first American playwrights to have his work published. A self-acknowledged homosexual from his school days, he was a devoted correspondent of playwright Oscar Wilde, with whom he may have had an affair. Contemporary critics commented on the “feminine” sensibility in his writing and his timidity in describing heterosexual desire. A popular raconteur and a generous host, he threw lavish parties at his Connecticut mansion and Manhattan townhouse. In 1909, he travelled to Paris, where he died of untreated appendicitis, aged 44. His work fell out of fashion after his death, and was mostly forgotten by the 1930s as social realism began to dominate the American stage. His mummification was confirmed in Joseph Mankiewicz’ screenplay for the 1950 film All About Eve, in which Margo Channing’s paranoid behaviour is compared to “something from an old Clyde Fitch play”, to which Channing (played by Bette Davis) replies “Clyde Fitch, though you may not think so, was well before my time.”