John Jay Osborn Jr.

Osborn was born in Boston, on August 5, 1945.^[1] His father, John Jay Sr., was a doctor at Stanford University School of Medicine; his mother was Anne (née Kidder). He was a descendant of both John Jay,^[1][2] a Founding Father and the first Chief Justice of the United States, and of railroad baron Cornelius Vanderbilt.^[1][3]

When Osborn was nine, he relocated with his family from Boston to the San Francisco Bay Area.^[1] He attended Harvard University, where he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in American history in 1967, and then obtained his Juris Doctor from Harvard Law School in 1970.^[4] He also did graduate work at Yale Law School.^[5]

The Paper Chase

Main article: The Paper Chase (Osborn novel)

For his third-year writing project at Harvard Law, Osborn wrote The Paper Chase, a fictional account of one Harvard Law School student's battles with the imperious Professor Charles Kingsfield. Osborn found a publisher with the assistance of William Alfred and the book was released in 1971.^[1] It was made into a film two years later, starring John Houseman and Timothy Bottoms.^[6] Houseman won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance as contracts professor Kingsfield.^[1][7] The Paper Chase also became a television series, and Osborn wrote several of the scripts.^[1][8]

Law

After graduating from law school, Osborn clerked for Judge Max Rosenn of the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit from 1970 to 1972.^[9] He was later an associate attorney with the firm Patterson Belknap Webb & Tyler.^[10]

Law professor

Osborn taught law at the University of Miami, the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law at Yeshiva University, the UC Berkeley School of Law,^[5] and the University of San Francisco School of Law, from which he retired in 2018.^[3]

Further novels and writings

Osborn's third novel, The Associates, was adapted into a short-lived television series starring Martin Short and Wilfrid Hyde-White.^[5] He was also one of the writers, along with Thomas A. Cohen, of the screenplay for the 2010 film version of the 1983 novel The River Why by David James Duncan.^[11] His final book, Listen to the Marriage, was published in 2018.^[1][12]

Osborn married Emilie Heffron Sisson in 1968.^[1][3] She was a Radcliffe College graduate who worked as a physician with the Palo Alto Medical Foundation, and they remained married until his death.^[1] Together, they had three children, including Sam and Meredith, who also attended Harvard College and Harvard Law School.^[13]

Osborn died on October 19, 2022, at his home in San Francisco, at age 77. He suffered from squamous cell cancer prior to his death.^[1]

Summarize Timeline Fact Check

Novels

• The Paper Chase (1971)^[1]
• The Only Thing I've Done Wrong (1977) ISBN 9780395251744
• The Associates (1979) ISBN 9780395270974
• The Man Who Owned New York (1981) ISBN 9780395305119
• Listen to the Marriage (2018)^[1]

Scripts

• The Paper Chase (15 of 54 episodes, 1978–1986)^[8]
  • "The Man Who Would Be King" (1978)^[14]
  • "A Day in the Life of..." (1978)^[15]
  • "Moot Court" (1978)^[16]
  • "The Sorcerer's Apprentice" (1978)^[17]
  • "Scavenger Hunt" (1979)^[18]
  • "Outline Fever" (1983)^[19][20]
  • "Birthday Party" (1983)^[19][21]
  • "Plague of Locusts" (1983)^[19][22]
  • "Snow" (1983)^[19][23]
  • "Mrs. Hart" (1984)^[19][24]
  • "War of the Wonks" (1984)^[19][25]
  • "Billy Pierce" (1984) (teleplay only)^[19][26]
  • "Decisions: Part 1" (1985)^[27]
  • "Decisions: Part 2" (1985)^[27]
  • "Honor" (1986)
• L.A. Law (1 episode, 1986–1994)^[1]
  • "December Bribe" (1987)
• Spenser: For Hire (1 episode, 1985–1988)
  • "Substantial Justice" (1988)^[28]
• The River Why (2010, with Thomas A. Cohen)^[8]