Stanley Kramer - Early Years

Early Years

Stanley Kramer was born in Brooklyn, New York, in a neighborhood known as Hell's Kitchen due to its reputation as a tough, gang-ridden area. His parents separated when was very young and he remembers little about his father. His mother worked at a New York office of Paramount Pictures, during which time his grandparents took care of him at home. His uncle, Earl Kramer, worked in distribution at Universal Pictures.

Kramer attended DeWitt Clinton High School in The Bronx, where he graduated at age fifteen. He then enrolled in New York University where he became a member of the Pi Lambda Phi fraternity and wrote a weekly column for the Medley newspaper. He graduated in 1933 at the age of nineteen with a degree in business administration. After developing a "zest for writing" with the newspaper, notes biographer Donald Spoto, he was offered a paid internship in the writing department of 20th Century Fox and moved to Hollywood. Until receiving that writing job, he had planned to enroll in law school.