| 1897: Thornton Wilder is born in Madison, Wisconsin on April 17. |
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1940: Our Town film adaptation, starring William Holden. |
| 1906: Moves to Hong Kong (May) and to Berkeley, California (October). |
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1942: The Skin of Our Teeth opens on Broadway, wins Pulitzer Prize Wilder writes screenplay for Alfred Hitchcock’s The Shadow of a Doubt. |
| 1906-11: Attends Emerson Public School in Berkeley and China Inland Mission School in China. |
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1942-45: Military service with Army Air Force Intelligence in North Africa and Italy. |
| 1912-13: Attends Thacher School, Ojai, California. The Russian Princess, Wilder’s first play known to be produced, is performed by Thacher students. |
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1948: The Ides of March (novel) |
| 1915: Graduates from Berkeley High School; active in school dramatics. |
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1951-52: Charles Eliot Norton Professor of Poetry at Harvard. |
| 1915-17: Attends Oberlin College; publishes regularly. |
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1952: Gold Medal for Fiction, American Academy of Arts and Letters. |
| 1920: Receives BA from Yale College (with brief service in 1918 with US Army). |
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1953: Wilder appears on the cover of Time Magazine. |
| 1920-21: Attends American Academy in Rome as special student. |
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1955: The Matchmaker opens on Broadway (revision of his 1938 play, The Merchant of Yonkers and the basis for Hello, Dolly!). |
| 1920s: Teaches at Lawrenceville School in New Jersey (1921-25 and 1927-28) |
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1957: Awarded German Booksellers Peace Prize, first American to receive award. |
| 1926: Receives MA degree in French from Princeton University. The Trumpet Shall Sound produced Off Broadway in New York by Laboratory Theatre. First novel is published, The Cabala. |
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1961: Opera version of The Long Christmas Dinner (music by Paul Hindemith, libretto by Wilder) premieres in Mannheim. |
| 1927: Second novel, The Bridge of San Luis Rey, wins Pulitzer Prize. |
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1962: Plays for Bleeker Street (Someone from Assisi, Infancy, and Childhood) performed at Circle in the Square Theatre in New York City. |
| 1928: The Angel That Troubled the Waters (first published collection of drama playlets). |
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1963: Awarded Presidential Medal of Freedom. |
| 1930s: Part-time teacher at the University of Chicago; lectures across the country; first visit to Hollywood (1934); extensive foreign travel. |
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1964: Hello, Dolly! (based on his play The Matchmaker) opens on Broadway. |
| 1930: The Woman of Andros (novel) |
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1965: Awarded National Book Committee’s Medal for Literature. |
| 1932: Lucrece (translation of André Obey’s Le Viol de Lucrèce) opens on Broadway. |
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1967: The Eighth Day (novel) receives National Book Award for Fiction. |
| 1937: Wilder adapts Ibsen’s A Doll’s House for Broadway (Broadway record until 1999). |
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1973: Theophilus North (novel). |
| 1938: Our Town opens on Broadway, wins Pulitzer Prize; Wilder performs role of the Stage Manager for two weeks. |
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1975: Dies in sleep in Hamden, Connecticut on December 7. |