Elizabeth Forsythe Hailey (born August 31, 1938 in Dallas, Texas) is an American journalist and playwright.
She worked briefly in journalism and publishing before joining her husband in writing for film and television.
[1] Her first novel A Woman of Independent Means, a surprise best seller, published in 1978, the year she turned forty, was inspired by the life of her grandmother.
With the support of her husband, playwright Oliver Hailey, she adapted it for the stage in 1983 as a one-person play starring Barbara Rush.
[2] She has subsequently published three more best-selling novels: Life Sentences (1982), Joanna's Husband and David's Wife (1986—which she also adapted for the stage as a two-person play), and Home Free in 1991.