Actress, Theater Figure. Elaine Anderson Steinbeck, the third wife of Nobel Prize in Literature author John Steinbeck, received recognition as being one of the first woman to become a Broadway stage manager. According to her "New York Times" obituary, she was assistant stage manager for the play "Oklahoma" in 1943. She was the stage manager with 296 performances of "Othello" starring Paul Robeson in 1944. Organizing the tour, she took "Othello" on a road tour. In 1944 she appeared in uncredited bit film roles in "A Night of Adventure" and "Seven Days Ashore." She studied drama at the University of Texas, where she met her first husband, Zachary Scott, the actor. They were married in 1934 and were active in theater in Texas before going to New York City. A struggling actress, she worked with the Theater Guild of New York, before relocating to Hollywood when her husband signed a seven-year Warner Brother Studio contract. The couple had a daughter before their 1949 divorce. In 1950 she met Steinbeck at a dinner party and they were married that year. With the death of Steinbeck in 1969, she became executor of the Steinbeck estate, staying busy to keep Steinbeck's work in print and promoting books about him. In 1996 she donated to Steinbeck Research Center at San Jose State University in California an archive of more than 200 letters sent to Steinbeck by John F. Kennedy, Harry Truman, Carl Sandburg, Alice B. Toklas, Ingrid Bergman and others.
Actress, Theater Figure. Elaine Anderson Steinbeck, the third wife of Nobel Prize in Literature author John Steinbeck, received recognition as being one of the first woman to become a Broadway stage manager. According to her "New York Times" obituary, she was assistant stage manager for the play "Oklahoma" in 1943. She was the stage manager with 296 performances of "Othello" starring Paul Robeson in 1944. Organizing the tour, she took "Othello" on a road tour. In 1944 she appeared in uncredited bit film roles in "A Night of Adventure" and "Seven Days Ashore." She studied drama at the University of Texas, where she met her first husband, Zachary Scott, the actor. They were married in 1934 and were active in theater in Texas before going to New York City. A struggling actress, she worked with the Theater Guild of New York, before relocating to Hollywood when her husband signed a seven-year Warner Brother Studio contract. The couple had a daughter before their 1949 divorce. In 1950 she met Steinbeck at a dinner party and they were married that year. With the death of Steinbeck in 1969, she became executor of the Steinbeck estate, staying busy to keep Steinbeck's work in print and promoting books about him. In 1996 she donated to Steinbeck Research Center at San Jose State University in California an archive of more than 200 letters sent to Steinbeck by John F. Kennedy, Harry Truman, Carl Sandburg, Alice B. Toklas, Ingrid Bergman and others.
Bio by: Linda Davis
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