Born in New York City, educated at Harvard University. He achieved critical acclaim for his play Tea and Sympathy (1953) and later wrote the screenplay for the 1956 film production. Other selected plays include All Summer Long (1955), Silent Night, Lonely Night (1960), You Know I Can't Hear You When the Water's Running (1967), I Never Sang for My Father (1968), and Absolute Strangers and The Last Act Is a Solo (both 1991). Other notable screenwriting credits (alone or in collaboration) include UNTIL THEY SAIL (1957), THE NUN'S STORY (1959), THE SAND PEBBLES (1966) and I NEVER SANG FOR MY FATHER (1970). In the 1970s, Anderson turned to writing novels: After (1973) and Getting Up and Going Home (1978), and he also wrote extensively for television. After his first wife, Phyllis Stohl, died in 1956, Anderson married actress Teresa Wright in 1959. Though they divorced in 1978, the couple remained close friends until her death in 2005. Personal quote: "It is next to impossible to earn a living in the theater. But you can make a killing."

Nominated for Writing (Best Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium) 1959: THE NUN'S STORY  Nominated for Writing (Best Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium) 1970: I NEVER SANG FOR MY FATHER 2 nominations