Eleanor Bergstein

Eleanor Bergstein (born 1938) is an American writer, best known for writing and co-producing the cult classic film, "Dirty Dancing", which was based in large part on her own childhood.

Biography

Bergstein was born in 1938 in Brooklyn, New York. She has one older sister, Frances. Their father was a Jewish doctor, leaving much of the care of the girls to their mother, Sarah Bergstein. The family spent summers in the luxury resorts of the Catskill Mountains, and while her parents were golfing, Bergstein was dancing. She was a teenaged Mambo queen, competing in local "Dirty dancing" competitions, and during university, she worked as a dance instructor at Arthur Murray dance studios.

In 1966, she was married to Michael Goldman, and worked as a novelist, with books such as "Advancing Paul Newman". She also tried her hand at scriptwriting, and had success with "It's My Turn", which became a film starring Michael Douglas and Jill Clayburgh. During production, the producers cut an erotic dance scene out of the script, which sparked Bergstein's idea to write a more extensive story which focused on the "Dirty Dancing" competitions of her youth.

In 2004, she also created the stage version of "Dirty Dancing," which opened in 2004 in Australia to sell-out performances.

Works

* "It's My Turn", 1980 screenplay
* "Dirty Dancing", 1987 film
* "Dirty Dancing: The Musical", 2004 stage production
* "Advancing Paul Newman", 1973 novel, ISBN 067010518X
* "Ex-Lover: A Novel", 1989, ISBN 0394553063

References

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* [http://www.theage.com.au/news/Arts/Private-dancers/2005/06/14/1118645804253.html "Private Dancers"] , June 15, 2005, "The Age"
* "Dirty Dancing", The E! True Hollywood Story, video documentary, first aired September 3, 2000
* [http://www.usatoday.com/life/movies/news/2007-04-23-dirty-dancing_N.htm "Dirty Dancing: Baby's Out of the Corner"] , May 2007, "USA Today"