Jerome Kass

Jerome Kass was a playwright and screenwriter best known for his work on the 1975 telefilm Queen of the Stardust Ballroom starring Maureen Stapleton and Charles Durning as a widow and postman, respectively, who fall in love late in life at the local dance hall. The movie was nominated for 11 Emmy Awards, and won two, for outstanding choreography and outstanding cinematography for entertainment programming or a special.

Kass also wrote the Tony-nominated book for the 1978 Broadway musical adaptation of his telefilm, simply titled Ballroom, starring Dorothy Loudon and Vincent Gardenia. It received nine Tony nominations, including one for best musical and a win for choreography.

Kass wrote 10 television movies in total, including A Brand New Life starring Cloris Leachman and Martin Balsam, Letters from Three Lovers, My Old Man adapted from the short story by Ernest Hemingway, The Fighter, Scorned and Swindled, The Pied Piper starring Peter O’Toole and Mare Winningham, Last Wish with Patty Duke and Stapleton, The Only Way Out with John Ritter and Henry Winkler and Secrets. He also adapted the 1985 NBC miniseries Evergreen, starring Lesley Ann Warren as Polish-Jewish immigrant Anna. The series was nominated for three Emmy Awards, winning one for outstanding art direction for a limited series or special.

Kass also co-wrote the screenplay for the 1983 telefilm The Black Stallion Returns.

He was married to writer Delia Kass, sister of the late screenwriter and director Nora Ephron.

Kass died October 22, 2015, in New York City. He was 78.