The Pride of the Yankees: The Life of Lou Gehrig
The Pride of the Yankees is a 1942 American sports drama film produced by Samuel Goldwyn, directed by Sam Wood, and starring Gary Cooper, Teresa Wright, and Walter Brennan. It is a tribute to the legendary New York Yankees first baseman Lou Gehrig, who died a year before its release, at age 37, from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, which later became known to the lay public as "Lou Gehrig's disease".
Plot
Lou Gehrig is a young Columbia University student whose old-fashioned mother wants him to study hard and become an engineer, but the young man has a gift for baseball. A sportswriter befriends Gehrig and persuades a scout to come see him play. When his mother gets sick, Gehrig signs with the team he has always revered, the New York Yankees, to pay for the hospital bills. With the help of his father, he endeavors to keep his career change a secret from his mother.
More details
author | Herman J. Mankiewicz Jo Swerling |
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director | Sam Wood |
editor | Daniel Mandell |
genre | drama |
keywords | columbia university comiskey park detroit home run hot dog incurable disease iron horse joe mccarthy laugh lou gehrig lou gehrig appreciation day lou gehrig day minor leagues national hero new york yankees physical condition short time to live world series yankee stadium young man |
musicBy | Leigh Harline |
producer | Samuel Goldwyn William Cameron Menzies |
productionCompany | Samuel Goldwyn Productions |
publisher | RKO Radio Pictures |
theme | biographical biographical drama sports |