Luce, Clare Boothe

Luce, Clare Boothe,

1903–87, American playwright and diplomat, whose name originally was Anne Clare Boothe, b. New York City. Witty, outspoken, glamorous, and an articulate political conservative, Luce began her career writing for Vogue and Vanity Fair in 1930, soon becoming managing editor of the latter magazine. She married publisher Henry LuceLuce, Henry Robinson,
1898–1967, American publisher, b. Tengchow (now Penglai), China, the son of a Presbyterian missionary. After studying at Yale and Oxford, he worked (1921–22) as a reporter on the Chicago Daily News and the Baltimore News.
..... Click the link for more information.  in 1935, and the following year her play The Women, satirizing wealthy New York matrons, opened to great success on Broadway. Her other hit plays included Kiss the Boys Goodbye (1938) and Margin for Error (1939). She served two terms in the House of Representatives (1943–47) as a Republican from Connecticut, and during the Eisenhower administration was ambassador (1953–56) to Italy. Her other writings include Stuffed Shirts (1933) and Europe in the Spring (1940).

Bibliography

See biographies by J. Lyons (1989) and S. J. Morris (2 vol., 2014).

Luce, Clare Boothe

(1903–87) playwright, journalist, public official; born in New York City. She was an editor of Vogue and Vanity Fair before enjoying considerable success with plays such as The Women (1936) and Kiss the Boys Goodbye (1938). Her personal life often kept her in the limelight, as when she married Henry R. Luce (1935) and converted to Catholicism (1946). An outspoken Republican, she served in the U.S. House of Representatives (Rep., Conn.; 1943–47) and as ambassador of Italy (1953–56). She was especially known for the acerbic wit of both her speech and writings.