Harding Lemay
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Harding Lemay (born March 16, 1922 in North Bangor, New York) is a well-known teleplay writer and playwright. Born on a Mohawk Indian reservation, he ran away to New York City at age 17, where he was a playwright's apprentice.
Sometimes credited as Pete Lemay, he is best known for his stint as head writer of the television soap opera Another World, from 1971 to 1979. Many family situations and characters were modeled after his own family, such as Iris Cory's maid Vivien Gorrow, who was modeled after his mother, from her personality traits down to her maiden name.
He was credited with ratings surges that pushed viewing figures to a record-breaking ten million households, as well as material that earned the series a Daytime Emmy Award for Best Drama in 1976. It was his writing that made the characters of Mac Cory (played by veteran character actor Douglass Watson), Rachel Cory (Victoria Wyndham), and Iris Cory Carrington (Beverlee McKinsey) household names. However, by 1979, Lemay was disinterested to continue writing the series for a ninth straight calendar year, and first handed over the reins to a new writer before exiting for good later that year. He also engendered some criticism for writing out three of the show's most popular actors George Reinholt (Steve Frame), Jacqueline Courtney (Alice Matthews Frame), and Virginia Dwyer (Mary Matthews), in 1975.
One of his reasons for leaving was that, first and foremost, writing a serial that aired five times a week proved to be too taxing on his mind and body. Another reason for his exit was that the sponsor of the show, Procter & Gamble, refused to allow Lemay to write any controversial storylines. In the late 1970s, Lemay asked the sponsor for clearance on a storyline he was writing, in which the teenage son of a very prominent character was to come out to his sister as a homosexual. According to Lemay, he had already written the story, ostensibly with the sponsor's support, until he was asked to pull the story mere days before the scenes were to be taped. Lemay's 1981 memoir Eight Years in Another World indicates that the gay story centered around Michael Randolph, son of Pat Matthews Randolph (played by Beverly Penberthy).
His animosity toward Procter & Gamble softened, and he was even asked to return as Head Writer of Another World in 1988. The plan was for Lemay to begin writing the show again after the end of the television scriptwriters' strike of 1988. The strike lasted from March to September and the entire time Donna Swajeski was responsible for the storytelling. Swajeski had previously worked for the programming division at NBC, the network that aired Another World in the United States, but after writing the show for six months, she wanted to continue writing the series on a full-time basis.
When the strike finally ended and Lemay began work as planned, Swajeski and Lemay clashed over Another World's direction and Lemay abruptly quit after writing Another World for only a few weeks. His storyline choices, however, such as the glamorous wedding of Felicia Gallant (Linda Dano) to Mitch Blake (William Gray Espy), and the return of Mac Cory's daughter Iris (Carmen Duncan) set the stage for engrossing story in the years to come.
With Lemay completely gone from AW, Swajeski became Head Writer, a position she held until 1992. It has been argued that much of her critically acclaimed storylines came from Lemay's storyline projections.
Coming off his creative zenith in the 1970s, Lemay also created, with Paul Rauch, the soap Lovers and Friends, later retooled and referred to as For Richer, For Poorer.
Lemay is also a successful playwright, whose works have been produced both on- and off-Broadway. He was also a friend of Douglas Marland's, who served as his subwriter on Another World and later became one of daytime's most prolific writers, serving as head writer for Guiding Light, General Hospital and As the World Turns.
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