Biography
Arnold Perl (1914–1971) was an American playwright, screenwriter and television writer. Born in New York City, he briefly attended Cornell University before writing for radio and early television series including The Big Story and Naked City.
In the mid-1950s he adapted Sholem Aleichem stories for the stage in The World of Sholom Aleichem and wrote the play Tevye and His Seven Daughters; these works provided the basis for his adaptation credit on the film Fiddler on the Roof (1971). He also wrote episodes of East Side/West Side and created the series N.Y.P.D. (1967–1969) with David Susskind.
Perl co-wrote the screenplay for Cotton Comes to Harlem (1970). He worked on an unproduced biographical script about Malcolm X with James Baldwin; elements of his draft were used for the 1992 film Malcolm X directed by Spike Lee. He directed the 1972 documentary Malcolm X, for which he received a posthumous Academy Award nomination. Perl died in Manhattan on 11 December 1971.
