Kirkwood was born in Los Angeles. His father James Kirkwood Sr. was an actor and director in silent films, and his mother was actress Lila Lee. After their divorce, he spent much of his time with his mother's family in Elyria, Ohio, where he graduated from high school.
Career
From 1953 to 1957, he played Mickey Emerson on the soap opera Valiant Lady. Kirkwood wrote the semi-autobiographical novel There Must Be a Pony, made into a television film starring Elizabeth Taylor and Robert Wagner. Other novels include P.S. Your Cat Is Dead, Good Times/Bad Times, Some Kind of Hero, and Hit Me with a Rainbow. In 1959, Kirkwood appeared on Perry Mason as Johnny Baylor, son of Sen. Harriman Baylor, in "The Case of the Foot-Loose Doll." In 1970, Simon & Schuster published Kirkwood's American Grotesque about the trial of Clay Shaw. Shaw, a New Orleans businessman, was tried by New Orleans District AttorneyJim Garrison on charges that he was involved in a conspiracy to assassinate United States President John F. Kennedy and later acquitted. Kirkus Reviews wrote that "Kirkwood's portrait of Shaw as St. Sebastian is overdone to the point of self defeat" and that "the book does clinch the impression that legal grounds for the conspiracy charges were insufficient." Kirkwood won the 1976 Tony Award for Best Book of a Musical, the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Book of a Musical, the New York Drama Critics' Circle Award, and the Pulitzer Prize for Drama with collaborator Nicholas Dante for A Chorus Line. Kirkwood also wrote the comedic playLegends! which toured the United States with Mary Martin and Carol Channing in 1987. The plot concerns a producer with a sure-fire commercial script, but no credibility, who lures two out-of-work but long-time feuding actresses "of a certain age" to star in his putative Broadway production. Legends! was the most financially successful road production of that season, but when producers insisted on cutting an important speech about breast cancer by Mary Martin's character, the actress declared she would complete her contractual obligation, but would not open the play on Broadway, and the show closed on the road. Kirkwood wrote a book about the production of Legends! titled Diary of a Mad Playwright: Perilous Adventures on the Road with Mary Martin and Carol Channing. A revival of Legends! was mounted with Joan Collins and Linda Evans of Dynasty fame. It toured more than 30 cities in the United States and Canada beginning in autumn 2006, but did not appear on Broadway as had been planned.
Personal life
In 1968, Kirkwood signed the "Writers and Editors War Tax Protest" pledge, vowing to refuse tax payments in protest against the Vietnam War. Kirkwood died in his Manhattan apartment of AIDS-related complications in 1989.
Literary Prize
In Kirkwood's memory, his friends and admirers established the James Kirkwood Literary Prize to honor new generations of fiction writers for their literary achievements. The competition is hosted by the UCLA Extension Writers' Program, and the winner is determined by Andrew Morse, the prize's benefactor.
Works
Novels
There Must Be a Pony!
Good Times/Bad Times
Hit Me with a Rainbow
Some Kind of Hero
P.S. Your Cat Is Dead
I Teach Flying
Plays
U.T.B.U.
Legends!
A Chorus Line
Stage Stuck
Nonfiction
American Grotesque
Diary of a Mad Playwright: Perilous Adventures on the Road with Mary Martin and Carol Channing, about production of the play Legends!
