Peter Háy (born 9 February 1944, in

Budapest Budapest (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. It is the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits and the second-largest city on the Danube river; the city has an estimated population ...

), the son of

Gyula Háy Gyula "Julius" Háy; 5 May 1900 – 7 May 1975) was a Hungarian communist intellectual and playwright. He wrote under the pen name Stefan Faber. Biography Háy was born in 1900 in Abony, Austria-Hungary to a Jewish family. He was involved ...

, is the author of over a dozen books, including an anecdote book series for

Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the university press of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world, and its printing history dates back to the 1480s. Having been officially granted the legal right to print books ...

, a history of

MGM Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc., also known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures and abbreviated as MGM, is an American film, television production, distribution and media company owned by Amazon through MGM Holdings, founded on April 17, 1924 a ...

(''MGM: When the Lion Roars''), and ''Ordinary Heroes: Chana Szenes and the dream of Zion'', the story of Hannah Senesh, the Hungarian

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

poet and heroine of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

. He was educated at

Haileybury and Imperial Service College Haileybury is a public school (English independent day and boarding school) near Hertford in England. It is a member of the Rugby Group and, though originally a major boys' public school in the Victorian era, it is now co-educational, enrol ...

near Hertford, England, and read classics and literature at Merton College, Oxford. He emigrated to

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

in 1967 and taught at

Simon Fraser University Simon Fraser University (SFU) is a public research university in British Columbia, Canada, with three campuses, all in Greater Vancouver: Burnaby (main campus), Surrey, and Vancouver. The main Burnaby campus on Burnaby Mountain, located ...

and at

Western Washington University Western Washington University (WWU or Western) is a public university in Bellingham, Washington. The northernmost university in the contiguous United States, WWU was founded in 1893 as the state-funded New Whatcom Normal School, succeeding a pri ...

in the United States. Before moving to

southern California Southern California (commonly shortened to SoCal) is a geographic and cultural region that generally comprises the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. It includes the Los Angeles metropolitan area, the second most populous urban a ...

in 1980, he founded the play publishing arm of

Talonbooks Talonbooks is an independent publisher of Canadian literature based in Vancouver, British Columbia. Its repertoire features authors writing in the literary genres of poetry, fiction and drama, as well as non-fiction books in the fields of ethnogra ...

, a Canadian cultural publisher, and was responsible for publishing the plays of dozens of Canadian playwrights. After working in the professional theatre world, including as the first

dramaturg A dramaturge or dramaturg is a literary adviser or editor in a theatre, opera, or film company who researches, selects, adapts, edits, and interprets scripts, libretti, texts, and printed programmes (or helps others with these tasks), consults auth ...

of the

Vancouver Playhouse Theatre Company The Vancouver Playhouse Theatre Company ("The Playhouse") was a regional theatre company, producing plays since 1962. Its first production was '' The Hostage'' by Brendan Behan, which opened on October 2, 1963. The company performed out of the V ...

, he was a dramaturg at the O'Neill Playwrights Conference in

Waterford, Connecticut Waterford is a town in New London County, Connecticut, United States. It is named after Waterford, Ireland. The population was 19,571 at the 2020 census. The town center is listed as a census-designated place (CDP) and had a population of 3,07 ...

, and at the early

Sundance Institute Sundance Institute is a non-profit organization founded by Robert Redford committed to the growth of independent artists. The institute is driven by its programs that discover and support independent filmmakers, theatre artists and composers fr ...

Playwrights Workshops in the early 1980s. While teaching in Los Angeles at USC and

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California ...

, he, together with

Didi Conn Edith "Didi" Conn (née Bernstein; born July 13, 1951) is an American actress. She is best known for her work as Frenchy in '' Grease'', Denise Stevens Downey in '' Benson'' and Stacy Jones in '' Shining Time Station''. Early life Edith Bernst ...

Ethan Phillips Ethan Phillips (born John Ethan Phillips February 8, 1955) is an American actor and playwright. He is best known for his television roles as Neelix on '' Star Trek: Voyager'' and PR man Pete Downey on '' Benson''. Personal life Phillips was raise ...

, and Virginia Morris, co-founded First Stage, a Hollywood non-profit organization that helps writers develop new scripts for the stage and screen, and for which he holds the title of Founding Artistic Director. Háy started Book Alley, an antiquarian bookshop in Pasadena, California, with his wife Dorthea Atwater in 1992. He retired to

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...

in 2008.

Books

*''Canned Laughter'',

, 1992 *''Movie Anecdotes'',

, 1991 *''MGM: When the Lion Roars'',

Turner Turner may refer to: People and fictional characters *Turner (surname), a common surname, including a list of people and fictional characters with the name * Turner (given name), a list of people with the given name *One who uses a lathe for turni ...

, 1991 *''Ordinary Heroes: The Life and Death of Chana Szenes, Israel's National Heroine'', Athena (paper), 1989 *''Krishnamurti: The Reluctant Messiah'', co author with Sydney Field, Paragon House, 1989 *''The Book of Business Anecdotes'',

, 1988 *''The Book of Legal Anecdotes'',

, 1987 *''All the Presidents' Ladies'',

Viking Penguin Viking Press (formally Viking Penguin, also listed as Viking Books) is an American publishing company owned by Penguin Random House. It was founded in New York City on March 1, 1925, by Harold K. Guinzburg and George S. Oppenheim and then acquire ...

, 1986 *''Broadway Anecdotes'',

, 1985 *''Theatrical Anecdotes'',

, 1984 *''Ordinary Heroes: Chana Szenes and the dream of Zion'', Putnam, 1984

Translations

*''The Horse'', in ''Three East European Plays'', Penguin, 1970

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hay, Peter 1944 births Living people Canadian non-fiction writers Canadian film historians Canadian male non-fiction writers Hungarian expatriates in Canada Western Washington University faculty Canadian book publishers (people) Dramaturges Male dramatists and playwrights Alumni of Merton College, Oxford