Thornton Wilder Thornton Wilder was born in Madison, Wisconsin on April 17, 1897. He is most famous for his play Our Town, which won the Pulitzer Prize, but is also known for his other Pulitzer Prize-winning play The Skin of our Teeth and for The Matchmaker, on which the musical Hello, Dolly was based. He was also a renowned novelist, having won the Pulitzer Prize for his novel Bridge of San Luis Rey.The year 1997 marks the centennial anniversary of Mr. Wilder's birth.