Albee, Edward (Franklin)

(born March 12, 1928, Washington, D.C., U.S.) U.S. playwright. He was the adopted grandson and namesake of a well-known vaudeville theatre manager.

Among his early one-act plays, The Zoo Story (1959), The Sandbox (1959), and The American Dream (1961) established him as an astute critic of American values. Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf (1962; film, 1966), his first full-length play, was widely acclaimed. Albee won Pulitzer Prizes for A Delicate Balance (1966), Seascape (1975), and Three Tall Women (1994). He also adapted other writers' works for the stage, including Vladimir Nabokov's Lolita (1981).