Showbiz411

The great short story writer, novelist, and essayist — and humorist– Laurie Colwin would have been 67 today. Tragically she died in her sleep in October 1992 at the age of 48. I like to celebrate Laurie’s birthday and not her death every year in this column. I was her friend, but also her book publicist in the early 1980s even though Laurie didn’t want a book publicist and didn’t want to do publicity. Luckily she had built a large following from her work in The New Yorker, and from her books–all of which are still in print and are as much fun to read now as they were then. My favorites are “Happy All the Time” and “Another Marvelous Thing.” Hollywood would do well to take another look at Laurie’s work–it would be perfect for Renee Zellweger, Anne Hathaway, or any number of young actresses who complain they can’t find good material. It’s hard to imagine so much time has passed with Laurie in the world. But really, she wouldn’t have been so stoked about all the technology for writers since she left us–Final Draft, Ipads, the internet itself. But she does have a Wikipedia entry, and even some websites. I’m happy to report that her daughter, Rosa Jurjevics, has followed in her mom’s footsteps. A very talented writer, Rosa is now working in New York for a publishing company, and doing great. Laurie would have loved that the most.

Happy birthday, Laurie. http://tinyurl.com/67jjas5

Roger Friedman

Roger Friedman began his Showbiz411 column in April 2009 after 10 years with Fox News. Friedman previously wrote the Intelligencer column at New York Magazine, He writes for Parade magazine and has written for Details, Vogue, the New York Times, Post, and Daily News and many other publications. He is the writer and co-producer of a film about R&B Music called “Only the Strong Survive,” which was released by Miramax in 2003 and was a selection of the Cannes, Sundance, and Telluride Film festivals.