Jerome Kilty

American actor and playwright
Jerome Timothy Kilty (June 24, 1922 in Baltimore, Maryland – September 6, 2012) was an American actor and playwright. He wrote Dear Liar: A Comedy of Letters. He worked extensively on the stage, both in the United States and abroad.

Dear Liar, full title Dear Liar: A Comedy of Letters is a play by Kilty that had a successful run in New York, which was based on the correspondence of famed playwright George Bernard Shaw and actress Mrs. Patrick Campbell. In the play, two actors duel with each other as they act on the letters exchanged between Shaw and Mrs. Campbell. It was staged in Chicago in 1957. The New York shows launched on March 17, 1960 with Katherine Cornell and Brian Aherne. It was staged in London for the first time in 1963. After London showings, in 1964 Kilty and his wife, actress Cavada Humphrey made a world tour. The play was brought to the screen in 1981 by the director Gordon Rigsby with the lead roles by Jane Alexander as Mrs. Patrick Campbell and Edward Herrmann as George Bernard Shaw. An adaptation in French was written by Jean Cocteau under the title Cher menteur (Dear Liar). The film directed by Alexandre Tarta had in lead roles Edwige Feuillère as Mrs. Patrick Campbell and Jean Marais as George Bernard Shaw.

He was born in Baltimore, Maryland of Irish descent on his father's side, but raised on the Pala Indian Reservation, San Diego County, California. On May 11, 1956, he wed actress Cavada Humphrey (June 17, 1919 – July 11, 2007), who was three years his senior. Humphrey died in 2007, at the age of 88. Kilty died on September 6, 2012