Cheryl Crawford was born in 1902. After working for the Theatre Guild along with Harold Clurman and Lee Strasberg founded the Group Theatre in New York in 1931. Others involved in the group included Elia Kazan, Stella Adler, John Garfield, Paul Green, Howard Da Silva, Franchot Tone, John Randolph, Joseph Bromberg, Michael Gordon, Luther Adler, Will Geer, Clifford Odets and Lee J. Cobb. Members of the group tended to hold left-wing political views and wanted to produce plays that dealt with important social issues.

In 1946 Crawford and Eva La Gallienne founded the American Repertory Theatre. The following year she joined with Elia Kazan to establish the Actors Studio. Her main commercial successes included Brigadoon (1947), Paint Your Wagon (1950), Sweet Bird of Youth (1959) and Mother Courage (1963). Her autobiography, One Naked Individual was published in 1977. Cheryl Crawford died in 1986.