Frank D. Gilroy | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Gilroy in 1974 | |
| Born | (1925-10-13)October 13, 1925 New York City,New York, U.S. |
| Died | September 12, 2015(2015-09-12) (aged 89) Monroe, New York, U.S. |
| Pen name | Bert Blessing |
| Education | Dartmouth College(BA) Yale University |
| Notable awards | Pulitzer Prize for Drama (1965) Tony Award for Best Play (1965) |
| Spouse | Ruth Gaydos (1954–2015) |
| Children | |
Frank Daniel Gilroy (October 13, 1925 – September 12, 2015) was an American playwright, screenwriter, and film producer and director. He received theTony Award for Best Play and thePulitzer Prize for Drama[1] for his playThe Subject Was Roses in 1965.[1]
Gilroy was born on October 13, 1925, in New York City, the son of Bettina (née Vasti) and Frank B. Gilroy, a coffee broker.[2] His father wasIrish American, and his mother was of Italian and German descent.[3] Gilroy lived in the Bronx for most of his childhood and attendedDeWitt Clinton High School. He then enlisted in theU.S. Army after graduation. He served two and a half years in the89th Infantry Division, of which eighteen months were in theEuropean Theater.
After the war, Gilroy attended Dartmouth College, where he editedThe Dartmouth, the campus newspaper, and wrote forJack-o-Lantern, the college humor magazine. He graduated magna cum laude with a Bachelor of Arts in 1950.[4] In 1966, he received an honoraryDoctor of Letters. He also received a grant from Dartmouth that allowed him to attend the Yale School of Drama.
Gilroy wrote in theGolden Age of Television for such shows asPlayhouse 90,Westinghouse Studio One,The United States Steel Hour,Omnibus,Kraft Television Theatre, andLux Video Theatre.
His entrance to theatre was marked with his 1962 playWho'll Save the Plowboy? at theoff-BroadwayPhoenix Theatre, which won theObie Award.[5] The play follows Albert Cobb, a man who once dreamed of owning a farm, becoming a plowboy. He and his wife Helen are awaiting to be reunited fifteen years after World War II, along with Larry Doyle, the man who saved his life. The title comes from when they were in the war, and Albert was staked as bait by the Germans, and Larry kept shouting "Who'll Save the Plowboy?" until he finally crept out and saved him.
The Subject Was Roses premiered on Broadway on May 25, 1964, and closed on May 21, 1966.[6] The two-act play has been compared toEugene O'Neill'sLong Day's Journey Into Night.[7]Walter Kerr said of the show: "a family triangle in which a father loves a son and the mother loves that son and the son loves both mother and father and not one of them can make a move or utter a sound that does not instantly damage the other."[8]
That Summer, That Fall, which had a brief run on Broadway in 1967, starringTyne Daly andIrene Papas[9] is a version of theHippolytus-Phaedra story. The play is set in an Italian neighborhood in Lower Manhattan in an apartment complex.
Gilroy's works include screenplays for the filmsDesperate Characters (starringShirley MacLaine) andThe Gallant Hours (starringJames Cagney). He has also adapted his own plays for film, includingThe Subject Was Roses (starringPatricia Neal,Martin Sheen andJack Albertson) andThe Only Game in Town (starringElizabeth Taylor andWarren Beatty). His 1985 screenplay forThe Gig (starringCleavon Little andWayne Rogers) has been adapted as a musical, with book, music, and lyrics byDouglas J. Cohen. A 2006Off-Broadway presentation and recording by theYork Theatre Company starredKaren Ziemba, Stephen Berger,Michele Pawk, andMichael McCormick.[10]
Gilroy has also written fiction, including the novelFrom Noon Till Three, which was adapted intoa film starringCharles Bronson andJill Ireland, Bronson's wife and frequent co-star. In addition to writing the screenplay, Gilroy also directed the film. He managed to convince Bronson and Ireland of the merits of rehearsal, which they initially detested. Gilroy later cited the experience as an example of risky casting that can become "a great source of joy."[11]
Gilroy also contributed to several TVwesterns in the late 1950s, includingHave Gun – Will Travel,The Rifleman, andWanted: Dead or Alive. He also created the popular TV seriesBurke's Law. His later credits includeNero Wolfe, a 1977 adaptation ofRex Stout's novelThe Doorbell Rang as a television movie withThayer David.
Gilroy's playFar Rockaway was used as the basis forThe Hero, a one-acttelevision opera byMark Bucci premiered in 1965 onNational Educational Television.[12]
Gilroy published two books about his ambivalent efforts to succeed in Hollywood. The first,I Wake Up Screening, chronicles the making of four films he wrote, produced and directed between 1971 and 1989. The second,Writing for Love and/or Money, charts Gilroy's entire writing career but is most notable for its terse yet rambunctious anecdotes about the self-defeatingly incoherent practices of Hollywood producers and executives in the 1950s and 60s. Because the book was written in 2007, Gilroy's distance from the events allows for glib, readable accounts that are perennially applicable for aspiring screenwriters.
One reason Gilroy identified for his friction with movie people was that he treated authenticity as a commodity. "I'm not into conscious style, or symbolism or fancy scrims between you and the material", he asserted. "I come from a theater background, where you lay it all on the table."[11]
A supporter and advocate for writers' rights in theatre, Gilroy was a member of theDramatists Guild of America. In 1968, he was elected as the fourteenth president of the non-profit organization. He continued his presidency at the Guild until 1971.
Gilroy's three sons, from his marriage to sculptor/writer Ruth Dorothy Gaydos, are involved in the film industry.Tony Gilroy andDan Gilroy are screenwriters and directors, whileJohn Gilroy is a film editor. Frank Gilroy died on September 12, 2015, in Monroe, New York.[13][14]
Plays[edit]
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