David Weiss

David Weiss (1909 – November 29, 2002) was an American novelist and writer best known for his bestselling 1963 biographical novel Naked Came I about the life of sculptor Auguste Rodin. Biography Born in 1909, from an early age Weiss showed an interest in the lives of artists and composers. His father was a painter, and after Weiss was orphaned at the age of four he was raised in Philadelphia by an aunt who owned a Russian restaurant across the street from the Academy of Music. In 1933 he graduated from Temple University and moved to New York, where he became private secretary to Erwin Piscator, then head of the Dramatic Workshop at the New School for Social Research; whilst there Weiss did graduate work in dramatics and became an assistant director during the early days of the Actors Studio.