Sally Benson died on July 19, 1972, in Woodland Hills, California, at age 71.
Sally Benson died on July 19, 1972, in Woodland Hills, California, closing out a prolific career that spanned decades in both literary and screenwriting circles. By the time of her death, she had established herself as one of the more versatile American writers of her generation, moving fluidly between short fiction for The New Yorker and blockbuster Hollywood screenplays.
Her death marked the end of a career notable for its breadth: she authored beloved short story collections, contributed to celebrated films such as Meet Me in St. Louis (1944), Anna and the King of Siam (1946), and The Singing Nun (1966), and adapted works for both stage and screen, including a Broadway adaptation of Junior Miss.
Benson's legacy persisted well beyond her lifetime through the continued popularity of Meet Me in St. Louis, which remains a classic of American cinema and is frequently revived, especially around the Christmas holiday season for its performance of "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas." Her nuanced depictions of American domestic life, particularly from a woman's perspective, secured her a lasting place in twentieth-century American literary and film history, even though she remains less publicly known than some of her male screenwriting contemporaries of the era.