Auntie Mame coauthor Jerome Lawrence dead at 88

Jerome Lawrence, the playwright whose collaborations with Robert E. Lee include the gay cult favorite Auntie Mame as well as Inherit the Wind, The Night Thoreau Spent in Jail, and First Monday in October, died Sunday in Malibu, Calif., at the age of 88, according to The New York Times. He is survived by his longtime companion, Will Willoughby, as well as by two nieces and a nephew. A total of 12 collaborations between Lawrence and Lee made it to Broadway, most notably Auntie Mame--their stage adaptation of Patrick Dennis's novel later led to a film version, a stage musical, and a film version of the musical--and Inherit the Wind, a fictionalized retelling of the famous Scopes "monkey trial."