In 1953 a new playwright, Robert Anderson, stepped into the Broadway limelight with Tea and Sympathy, a play about a lonely, misunderstood boarding school student. This groundbreaking drama explores a sensitive young man's coming of age amid the taunts and suspicions of his classmates and teachers at a private boy's academy. Only a sympathetic act of compassion by the wife of the headmaster gives young Tom the courage to grow into a man. The Broadway production was a huge hit starring Deborah Kerr who later starred in the critically acclaimed film version.