Radio and Broadway Early in his career, Axelrod worked in summer stock theater as a stage manager and an occasional actor. During
World War II, he was a member of the
U.S. Army Signal Corps. When he returned to civilian life, he wrote for
The Shadow,
Midnight,
Grand Ole Opry, and other radio programs. With the advent of television, he wrote for that medium, too, eventually working on more than 400 TV and radio scripts. Comedians for whom he wrote included
Jerry Lewis and
Dean Martin a risqué social satire about a middle-class man who has an affair while his wife and children are on vacation.
The Seven Year Itch was first presented by Courtney Burr and Elliot Nugent at the Fulton Theatre, New York City, on July 15, 1952.
Television Axelrod's overnight success prompted him to write a seriocomic teleplay,
Confessions of a Nervous Man, starring
Art Carney as a playwright waiting anxiously in a
Theater District bar for the newspaper reviews of his first play to hit the streets. Based on his own experiences on the opening night of
The Seven Year Itch, the one-hour play was presented as the November 30, 1953, episode of
Studio One. He appeared on television himself occasionally as a guest panelist on ''
What's My Line?''
Films The Broadway success of
The Seven Year Itch led to the successful 1955 film directed by
Billy Wilder and starring
Marilyn Monroe. The plot was altered so that the husband (
Tom Ewell) only fantasizes about having an affair. Axelrod's next stage hit was
Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter?, Subsequent contributions include the scripts for Frankenheimer's
The Holcroft Covenant (1985) and
The Fourth Protocol (1987).
Novels Axelrod published three novels:
Blackmailer (1952), a darkly comic mystery; ''Beggar's Choice
(1947), a comedy of role reversal; and Where Am I Now When I Need Me?'' (1971), a humorous overview of the Hollywood scene. ==Death==