William Hanley | |
|---|---|
| Born | (1931-10-22)October 22, 1931 Lorain, Ohio, United States |
| Died | May 25, 2012(2012-05-25) (aged 80) Ridgefield, Connecticut, United States |
| Occupation | Writer |
| Spouse(s) | Shelley Post (1956–1961) Pat Stanley (1962–1978; divorced); 2 children |
| Relatives | James Hanley,Gerald Hanley (uncles) Ellen Hanley (sister) |
William Hanley (October 22, 1931 – May 25, 2012) was an American playwright, novelist, and scriptwriter, born inLorain, Ohio. Hanley wrote plays for the theatre, radio and television and published three novels in the 1970s. He was related to the British writersJames andGerald Hanley, and the actressEllen Hanley was his sister.
William G. Hanley was born on October 22, 1931, Lorain, Ohio, one of three children of William Gerald and Anne Rodgers Hanley.[1] William Hanley Sr. was born inLiverpool, England in 1899,[2] of Irish Catholic immigrants. He was a seaman before settling in the US, and then worked as a housepainter.[3] Shortly after Hanley's birth the family moved to Queens, New York. Hanley attended Cornell for a year, then served in the Army in the early 1950s, before enrolling at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts, though he never pursued an acting career.[4] He worked as a bank clerk, mail clerk, factory worker, and book salesman while writing his early scripts.[5] William Hanley married Shelley Post, 1956 (divorced, 1961), and married Pat Stanley, 1962 (divorced, 1978).
The actressEllen Hanley (1926–2007) was his sister. She is best known for playing Fiorello La Guardia's first wife in the 1959 Broadway musical "Fiorello!" The British novelist and playwrightJames Hanley (1897–1985) was his father William's brother. In addition to writing many novels James Hanley also wrote plays for the theatre, radio and television. Another brother was the novelist and script writerGerald Hanley (1916–1992).[6]
William Hanley died May 25, 2012, after suffering a fall in his home inRidgefield, Connecticut and was buried in the family plot at Mapleshade Cemetery, next to his parents and sister.[7] He was 80.[5]
Hanley was a successful Broadway and off Broadway playwright in the 1960s. Howard Taubman wrote inThe New York Times in 1962, that Hanley was "an uncommonly gifted writer." But the accolades, and a Tony nomination, did not provide commercial success.Slow Dance on the Killing Ground ran for 88 performances, the Off-Broadway plays had closed within a month.[5] However Hanley, subsequently he had a successful career in television, beginning withFlesh and Blood which was originally a stage play that Hanley sold in 1966, to NBC for $112,500, "at the time the most that television had paid an author for a single work".[5] Over a period of thirty years Hanley wrote more than two dozen TV scripts. He also published three novels in the 1970s. He was the original screenwriter onThe Graduate (1967), but walked off the project after getting notes he didn't agree with from directorMike Nichols.[8]
He was nominated forEmmys five times and won twice: a 1984 ABC movieSomething About Amelia and in 1988 for the mini-seriesThe Attic: The Hiding of Anne Frank, which starredPaul Scofield,Mary Steenburgen and, as Anne,Lisa Jacobs.[9]Something About Amelia also won a 1984Golden Globe Award for Best Television Limited Series or Motion Picture made for Television.[10]
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