Frank D. Gilroy, Pulitzer Prize-Winning Playwright, Dies
at 89
Deadline Hollywood
By Mike Fleming Jr.
September 13, 2015
Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright, screenwriter, director
and author Frank D. Gilroy died last night from natural causes at age 89.
Gilroy leaves behind his wife Ruth of 62 years, his three sons Tony, Dan and
John, and grandchildren Sam, Carolyn, Taylor, Rose, and Kathryn Gilroy. The
family just confirmed his death.
A former president of the Dramatists Guild, Gilroy won
the Pulitzer for his play The Subject Was Roses, and his legacy extends to his
three sons. Tony Gilroy is the screenwriter behind The Bourne Identity trilogy,
the writer/director of Michael Clayton and Duplicity, and the director of The
Bourne Legacy. Dan Gilroy is the writer/director of Nightcrawler, The Bourne
Legacy and writer of the upcoming Kong: Skull Island. John Gilroy is the editor
of such films as Warrior and Pacific Rim. The siblings worked together on The
Bourne Legacy and most recently Nightcrawler, which Tony Gilroy produced. Frank
Gilroy raised his family in the Orange County house he bought in 1962 and died in. Frank Gilroy was
a big influence on his three sons, and proud they all succeeded in the
business, said son Tony.
“He showed all sides of his work to us, he never hid any
of the joy, the difficulty, satisfaction, pain, effort, and the need to keep
going,” Gilroy told Deadline. “He was an only child, and he was obsessed with
the brotherhood that developed between the three of us. He was exceptional, not
only in that he’s part of the Greatest Generation, but in the way he invented
himself. A lot of us get to stand on the shoulders of others, but he made
himself out of nothing, and he never obscured the machinery that goes into
that. He was a gambler, it was his essential nature, sometimes to his
detriment, but he never obscured it. Anything we wanted to see about his life
was available to us, and it was like we grew up over the store. He wrote at
home, and at times he was away for long periods, but he taught us how it
worked. He showed us that some of it you do for them, and some of it you do for
yourself, but no matter what, you always take pride in craftsmanship. He took
great satisfaction in what happened for the three of us, but if any of us
hadn’t any promise, he would have been realistic and would have told us.”
Born in the Bronx, Gilroy attended Dartmouth College
under the G.I. Bill after his Army stint in Europe during World War II. He went
on to attend the Yale School of Drama on a Dartmouth grant, and then launched
his writing career during the Golden Age of Television. He worked on classic
anthology shows including Playhouse 90, Studio One, and The Dick Powell
Theatre. He also wrote for numerous regular TV series including including
iconic Westerns The Rifleman starring Chuck Conners, Wanted: Dead Or Alive
starring Steve McQueen, The Rebel with Nick Adams, and Have Gun, Will Travel,
which starred Richard Boone. He originated the 1960s detective series Burke’s
Law which starred Gene Barry and was resurrected briefly in the mid-1990s.
Best known for his Pulitzer-winning play Roses, Gilroy
debuted on the stage in 1962 with Who’ll Save the Plowboy? which won the Obie Award. The Subject Was
Roses opened in May 1964 and went on to win several Broadway accolades
including a Tony Award and various New York critics awards. Gilroy also wrote
the screenplay for the movie version which earned a Supporting Actor Oscar for
Jack Albertson and a Best Actress nomination for Patricia Neal.
His other movie work includes Desperate Characters (with
Shirley MacLaine and Kenneth Mars), The Gallant Hours (James Cagney) and The
Only Game in Town (Elizabeth Taylor and Warren Beatty). Gilroy also wrote the
novel From Noon Till Three, which was made into a movie starring Charles
Bronson which he directed as well as writing the screenplay.
In addition to other honors, Gilroy received the Ian
McLellan Hunter Award for Lifetime Achievement in Writing from the Writers
Guild of America East in 2011. You can watch his acceptance speech by clicking
on the image above.
Gilroy has also written fiction, including the novel From
Noon Till Three, which was adapted into a film starring Charles Bronson. In
addition to writing the screenplay, Gilroy also directed the film. His other
books included Little Ego, a children’s book he wrote with his wife Ruth.
A memorial service will be scheduled for sometime this
fall.
GILROY, Frank
D. (Frank Daniel Gilroy)
Born:
10/13/1925, Bronx, New York, U.S.A.
Died: 9/12/2015,Munroe, New York, U.S.A.
Frank D. Gilroy’s
westerns – director, screenwriter:
The Fastest Gun Alive – 1956 [screenwriter]
Have Gun – Will Travel (TV) – 1958 [screenwriter]
The Rifleman (TV) – 1958 [screenwriter]
Wanted: Dead or Alive (TV) – 1958 [screenwriter]
Texas John Slaughter (TV) – 1958, 1959 [screenwriter]
Gundown at Sandoval – 1960 [screenwriter
The Rebel (TV) – 1960 [screenwriter]
From Noon Till Three – 1976 [director, writer,
screenwriter]
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