Maurice Sendak Biography (1928-)

Full name, Maurice Bernard Sendak; born June 10, 1928, in Brooklyn, NY; son of Philip (a dressmaker) and Sarah (maiden name, Schindler) Sendak. Addresses: Agent: The Steven Barclay Agency, 12 Western Ave., Petaluma, CA 94952; Creative Artists Agency, 9830 Wilshire Blvd., Beverly Hills, CA 90212.; Contact: 200 Chestnut Hill Rd., Ridgefield, CT 06877-1200.

Nationality: American
Gender: Male
Occupation: Writer, illustrator, set designer, costume designer, lyricist, producer
Birth Details: June 10, 1928; Brooklyn, New York, United States

Famous Works

CREDITS
Stage Set and Costume Designer
Opera
The Magic Flute, Houston Grand Opera, Houston, TX, 1980
(And librettist) Where the Wild Things Are (adaptation of Sendak'sbook of the same title), Brussels Opera, Brussels, Belgium, 1980, then revised and produced at New York City Opera, 1984
The Cunning Little Vixen, New York City Opera, 1981
Love for Three Oranges (based on Frank Corsaros book of the same title), Glyndebourne Opera, England, 1982
The Abduction from the Seraglio, New York City Opera, 1984
Goose of Cairo, Lyric Opera, Kansas City, MO, 1986
L'heure espagnol (one-act), Glyndebourne Opera, 1986
L'enfant et les sortileges (one-act), Glyndebourne Opera, 1986
(With Frank Corsaro) Idomeneo, Los Angeles Opera, 1989
Stage Set Designer
Really Rosie (based on the television special of the same title),Brussels Opera, 1980, then Chelsea Theatre Center, New York City, 1980-1981
Television Executive Producer
Series
Little Bear (also known as Maurice Sendak's Little Bear), Nickelodeon, 1995-
George and Martha, HBO, 1999
Seven Little Monsters, PBS, 2000
Television Work
Specials
Director and art director, Really Rosie (adapted from Sendak's books, The Nutshell Library and The Sign on Rosie's Door), CBS, 1975
Production designer, The Love for Three Oranges, 1982
Costume designer and set designer, The Juillard Opera: Hansel und Gretel, PBS, 1997
Television Appearances
Specials
Himself, The Secret World of the Very Young, 1984
The World of Jim Henson, PBS, 1994
Film Work
(Uncredited) Preliminary artwork, Return to Oz, 1985
Production designer, costume designer, conception, and sets, Nutcracker: The Motion Picture (based on E. T. A. Hoffmann's fairy tale, "The Nutcracker and the Mouse King"), Atlantic, 1986
Executive producer, The Little Bear Movie, 2001
Film Appearances
Himself, Galaxie, 1966
Himself, Last Dance, First Run Features, 2002
WRITINGS
Stage Librettos
Operas
Where the Wild Things Are (adaptation of Sendak's book of the sametitle), first produced at Brussels Opera, Brussels, Belgium, 1980, revised and produced at New York City Opera, 1984
Higglety, Pigglety, Pop! (adaptation of Sendak's book of the sametitle), produced at Glyndebourne Opera, 1984
Stage Lyrics
Really Rosie (based on the television special of the same title),first produced at Brussels Opera, 1980, then Chelsea Theatre Center, New YorkCity, 1980-1981
Television Writings
Specials
Script and lyrics, Really Rosie (based on characters from Sendak'sbooks, The Nutshell Library and The Sign on Rosie's Door), CBS, 1975
Screenplays
(With Kent Stowell) Nutcracker: The Motion Picture (based on E. T.A. Hoffmann's fairy tale, "The Nutcracker and the Mouse King"), Atlantic, 1986
Children's Books
Writer and Illustrator

Kenny's Window, Harper, 1956
Very Far Away, Harper, 1957
The Sign on Rosie's Door, Harper, 1960
Chicken Soup with Rice: A Book of Months, Harper, 1962
One Was Johnny: A Counting Book, Harper, 1962
Alligators All Around: An Alphabet, Harper, 1962
Pierre: A Cautionary Tale in Five Chapters and a Prologue, Harper,1962
Nutshell Library (contains Chicken Soup with Rice, One Was Johnny, Alligators All Around, and Pierre), Harper, 1962
Where the Wild Things Are, Harper, 1963
Hector Protector [and] As I Went over the Water, Harper, 1965
Higglety, Pigglety, Pop!; or, There Must Be More to Life, Harper,1967
In the Night Kitchen, Harper, 1970
Ten Little Rabbits: A Counting Book with Mino the Magician, PhilipH. Rosenbach, 1970
Maurice Sendak's Really Rosie, with music by Carole King (based onthe television program, Really Rosie), Harper, 1975
(With Matthew Margolis) Some Swell Pup; or, Are You Sure You Want a Dog?, Farrar, Straus, 1976
Seven Little Monsters, Harper, 1977
Outside Over There, Harper, 1981
We Are All in the Dumps with Jack and Guy: Two Nursery Rhymes with Pictures, HarperCollins, 1993
Sendak's works have been translated into thirteen foreign languages, including French, German, Italian, and Japanese.
Books as Illustrator
Ruth Krauss, A Hole Is to Dig: A First Book of First Definitions,Harper, 1952
Krauss, A Very Special House, Harper, 1953
Meindert De Jong, Hurry Home, Candy, Harper, 1953
Hyman Chanover, Happy Hanukkah, Everybody, United Synagogue Commission on Jewish Education, 1954
De Jong, The Wheel on the School, Harper, 1954
De Jong, The House of Sixty Fathers, Harper, 1956
Else Minarik, Little Bear, Harper, 1957
De Jong, Along Came a Dog, Harper, 1958
Sesyle Joslyn, What Do You Say, Dear?: A Book of Manners for All Occasions, W. R. Scott, 1958
Minarik, Father Bear Comes Home, Harper, 1959
Janice Udry, The Moon Jumpers, Harper, 1959
Minarik, Little Bears Friend, Harper, 1960
Udry, Lets Be Enemies, Harper, 1961
Minarik, Little Bears Visit, Harper, 1961
Charlotte Zolotow, Mr. Rabbit and the Lovely Present, Harper, 1962
Randall Jarrell, The Animal Family, Pantheon, 1965
Isaac Bashevis Singer, Zlateh the Goat and Other Stories, Harper,1966
Minarik, A Kiss for Little Bear, Harper, 1968
Betty Macdonald, The Light Princess, Bodley Head, 1969
Jakob Grimm and Wilhelm Grimm, The Juniper Tree, and Other Tales fromGrimm, Farrar, Straus, 1973
Jarrell, Fly by Night, Farrar, Straus, 1976
Frank Corsaro, The Love for Three Oranges, Farrar, Straus, 1984
E. T. A. Hoffmann, Nutcracker, translated by Ralph Manheim from the fairy tale, "The Nutcracker and the Mouse King," Crown, 1984
Cunning Little Vixen, 1985
J. Grimm and W. Grimm, Dear Mili, Farrar, Straus, 1988
Iona and Peter Opie, I Saw Esau: The Schoolchild's Pocket Book, Candlwick Press, 1992
Arthur Yorinks, The Miami Giant, HarperCollins, 1995
Herman Melville, Pierre; or, The Ambiguities, HarperCollins, 1996
Heinrich von Kleist, Penthesilia: A Tragic Drama (verse drama), translated by Joel Agee, HarperCollins, 1996
James Marshall, Swine Lake, HarperCollins, 1999
Else Holmelund Minarik, Little Bear and the Missing Pie, HarperFestival, 2002
Holmelund Minarik, Little Bear's Wagon, HarperFestival, 2002
Holmelund Minarik, Little Bear's Egg, HarperFestival, 2002
Holmelund Minarik, Little Bear's Valentine, HarperFestival, 2002
Other
Fantasy Sketches (published in conjunction with one-man show at Rosenbach Foundation), Philip H. Rosenbach, 1970
Pictures by Maurice Sendak, Harper, 1971
Editor and author of introduction, Maxfield Parrish Poster Book, 1974
Author of appreciation, The Publishing Archive of Lothar Meggendorfer, Schiller, 1975
Editor, The Disney Poster Book, Harper, 1977
Author of introduction, Babar's Anniversary Album by Jean de Brunhoff, Random House, 1981
Collection of Books, Posters, and Original Drawings, Schiller, 1984
Author of commentary, Masterworks of Children's Literature, Volume7, edited by Jonathan Cott, Chelsea House, 1984
Photographer, The Cunning Little Vixen by Rudolf Tesnohlidek, Farrar, Straus, 1985
Author of introduction, Victorian Color Picture Books by JonathanCott, Stonehill Publishing/Chelsea House, 1985
Posters, Harmony Books, 1986
Author of foreword, Winsor McCay: His Life and Art by John Canemaker, Abbeville Press, 1987
Caldecott and Co.: Notes on Books and Pictures, Farrar, Straus, 1988
Author of introduction, Mickey Mouse Movie Stories, Abrams, 1988
Maurice Sendak Book and Poster Package: Wild Things, Harper, 1991
(With others) Worlds of Childhood: The Art and Craft of Writing for Children, Houghton Mifflin, 1998
(With others) HarperCollins Treasury of Picture Book Classics, HarperCollins, 2002
Contributor of illustrations to McCall's and Ladies Home Journal.

Further Reference

ADAPTATIONS

Where the Wild Things Are was made into a filmstrip by Western Woods in 1968; the book Really Rosie was filmed as Really Rosie Starring the Nutshell Kids by Western Woods in 1976; Pierre, Chicken Soup with Rice, Alligators All Around, and One Was Johnny were made intofilmstrips with cassettes, all by Western Woods, all 1976. Where the WildThings Are, The Nutshell Library, Very Far Away, The Sign on Rosie's Door, and In the Night Kitchen were recorded on cassette, read by Tammy Grimes, with music, for Caedmon, 1977. The Maurice Sendak Library, a videotape by Weston Woods, includes adaptations of The Nutshell Library (excerpted from the television special Really Rosie), with music by Carole King; Where the Wild Things Are, with music and narration by Peter Schickele; and In the Night Kitchen, with musicby Angelo Michajlov and narration by Schickele. Little Bear was made into a television series which aired on Nickelodeon in 1995; Seven Little Monsters was made into a television series in 2000.

OTHER SOURCES

Books

Encyclopedia of World Biography Supplement, Volume 19, Gale Group,1999
International Dictionary of Opera, St. James Press, 1993
Major Twentieth-Century Writers, Volume 4, Gale, 1991
St. James Guide to Children's Writers, St. James Press, 1999

Periodicals

American Theatre, June, 1991, p. 23

User Contributions:

Comment about this article, ask questions, or add new information about this topic:

forum