Horton Foote

Foote was born in 1916 in Wharton, Texas, the son of Harriet Gautier "Hallie" Brooks and Albert Horton Foote. His younger brothers were Thomas Brooks Foote (1921–44), who died in aerial combat over Germany during World War II, and John Speed Foote (1923–95). ==Television==

Foote moved to California, where he studied theater at the Pasadena Playhouse in 1931–32. He began his career as an actor, but was also writing plays. After getting better reviews for his plays than for his acting, during the 1940s he focused on writing. He became one of the leading writers for American television during the 1950s, beginning with an episode of The Gabby Hayes Show. His play The Trip to Bountiful premiered March 1, 1953, on NBC with the leading cast members (Lillian Gish, Eva Marie Saint) reprising their roles on Broadway later that year. He later adapted the play into a feature film. He twice adapted William Faulkner's "Old Man" to television, in 1958 and 1997. Each received an Emmy nomination. In 1997 Foote won Outstanding Writing of a Miniseries or Special). ==Theatre==

Foote's plays were produced on Broadway, Off-Broadway, Off-Off-Broadway and at regional theatres, such as the Goodman Theatre in Chicago. He wrote the English adaptation of the original Japanese book for the 1970 musical Scarlett, a musical adaptation of Gone with the Wind. He won the 1995 Pulitzer Prize for Drama for The Young Man From Atlanta. The Goodman Theatre production that was taken to Broadway in 1997 was nominated for the Tony Award Best Play, but did not win. The production starred Rip Torn, Shirley Knight and Biff McGuire. Knight and McGuire were also nominated for Tony Awards. In 1996, Foote was inducted into the American Theater Hall of Fame. In 2000, Foote was honored with the PEN/Laura Pels International Foundation for Theater Award as a Master American Dramatist. His three-play biographical series (three full-length pieces comprising three one-act plays each), mainly about his father, ''The Orphans' Home Cycle, ran in repertory Off-Broadway in 2009–2010. These plays are Roots in a Parched Ground, Convicts, Lily Dale, The Widow Claire, Courtship, Valentine's Day, 1918, Cousins, and The Death of Papa. Some plays had previously been produced separately. Convicts, Lily Dale, Courtship, Valentine's Day and 1918 were filmed, and the latter three were shown on PBS in 1987 as a mini-series titled The Story of A Marriage''. In describing his three-play work, ''The Orphans' Home Cycle'', the drama critic for the Wall Street Journal said this: "Foote, who died last March, left behind a masterpiece, one that will rank high among the signal achievements of American theater in the 20th century." ==Films==

Foote received an Academy Award for Writing Adapted Screenplay and the Writers Guild of America Screen Award for his adaptation of To Kill a Mockingbird in 1963. Foote did not attend the Oscars ceremony in 1963 because he did not expect to win, and so was not present to collect the award in person; it was accepted on his behalf by the film's producer, Alan J. Pakula. Foote personally recommended actor Robert Duvall for the part of Boo Radley in To Kill a Mockingbird after meeting him during a 1957 production of The Midnight Caller at Neighborhood Playhouse in New York City. The two would work together many more times in the future. Foote had described Duvall as "our number one actor." Duvall won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance. Foote generally wrote screenplays that were based on his plays, such as the semi-autobiographic trilogy of 1918 (1985), ''On Valentine's Day (1986) and Courtship (1987). 1918 and On Valentine's Day'' were shot on location in Waxahachie, Texas. His screenplay for The Trip to Bountiful (1985) won him the Independent Spirit Award for Best Screenplay as well as an Academy Award nomination, while Geraldine Page won the Academy Award for Best Actress for her role in the film. He also adapted works by other authors, such as John Steinbeck (Of Mice and Men, directed by and starring Gary Sinise with John Malkovich). In addition to Faulkner's Old Man, Foote adapted Faulkner's short story Tomorrow as a 1972 film of the same name starring Robert Duvall. Foote had previously adapted the story as a play for television's Playhouse 90 in 1960. Leonard Maltin, in his movie guide book, calls the movie the best film adaptation of any of Faulkner's work. On the subject of Faulkner, Foote said, "Faulkner I never met but evidently he liked [my adaptations] because he's allowed me to share the dramatic copyrights to both Old Man and Tomorrow ... So in other words, you have to get both our permissions to do it." Playwright Lillian Hellman adapted his 1952 play and 1956 novel for the 1966 film The Chase, with Marlon Brando, Jane Fonda and Robert Redford. Foote provided the voice of Jefferson Davis for Ken Burns's critically acclaimed documentary, The Civil War (PBS, 1990). Adaptations of his plays The Habitation of Dragons (TNT, 1992) and Lily Dale (Showtime, 1996) preceded the Showtime production of ''Horton Foote's Alone (1997). His final work was the screenplay for Main Street'', a 2010 dramatic film. ==Honors and style==

Foote was awarded an honorary doctorate in 2006 from Carson-Newman University. He received an honorary doctorate of humane letters in 1987 from Spalding University (Louisville, Kentucky). One of Foote's primary biographers is Dr. Gerald Wood, former chairman of the English Department at Carson-Newman. Books by Wood about Foote include Horton Foote and the Theater of Intimacy and Horton Foote: A Casebook (Taylor & Francis, 1998, ; rev. Routledge, 2014, ). Wood and Marion Castleberry co-edited The Voice of an American Playwright: Interviews with Horton Foote (Mercer University Press, 2012, ). Baylor University also holds close ties with Foote. In 2002, Foote accepted the title as "Visiting Distinguished Dramatist" with the Baylor Department of Theatre Arts. Tess Harper, an actress who worked with Foote on Tender Mercies, described him as "America's Chekhov. If he didn't study the Russians, he's a reincarnation of the Russians. He's a quiet man who writes quiet people." Regarding his own writing, Foote said, "I know that people think I have a certain style, but I think style is like the color of the eyes. I don't know that you choose that." The Fine Arts Building at the college located in Wharton, Texas, Wharton County Junior College, is named the Horton Foote Theatre. He was known to be a large supporter of the arts in his hometown of Wharton, Texas. A Horton Foote Scholarship is awarded at the school to one student per year who excels in theatre. In December 2000, President Bill Clinton presented Foote with the National Medal of Arts, saying that he was "the nation's most prolific writer for stage, film, and television." ;Academy Awards • To Kill a Mockingbird (winner) – Screenplay Adapted from Another Medium (1962) • Tender Mercies (winner) – Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen (1983) • The Trip to Bountiful (nominee) – Screenplay Adapted from Another Medium (1985) ==Personal life==

Foote was married to Lillian Vallish Foote (1923–1992) from June 4, 1945, until her death in 1992. Their four children are actors Albert Horton Foote III and Hallie Foote; playwright Daisy Brooks Foote; and director, writer and lawyer Walter Vallish Foote. ''The Orphans' Home Cycle Part III: The Story of a Family in 2010 and Harrison, TX: Three Plays by Horton Foote'' Off-Broadway in 2012. Foote was introduced to Christian Science while in California and went on to become a dedicated member of the church. He served as a First Reader in a branch church in Nyack, New York, and also taught Sunday School for many years while living in New Boston, New Hampshire. Foote was the voice of Jefferson Davis in the 11-hour PBS series The Civil War (1990). Shelby Foote wrote the comprehensive three volume, 3000-page history, together titled The Civil War: A Narrative, upon which the series was partially based and who appeared in almost ninety segments. The two Footes were cousins. Foote was the cousin of actor/director Peter Masterson who directed three of his screenplays, including The Trip to Bountiful, Convicts and the Hallmark Hall of Fame television production of Lily Dale, starring Mary Stuart Masterson, Peter's daughter. Foote died in Hartford, Connecticut, on March 4, 2009, at the age of 92, while he was working on a production of ''The Orphans' Home Cycle'' to premiere in the city. At the time of his death, he lived in his hometown of Wharton, Texas, and the Pacific Palisades section of Los Angeles. ==Stage plays==

''The Orphans' Home Cycle'' is a series of nine plays concerning Horace Robedaux (an alias for Horton Foote's father, Albert Horton Foote Sr.), Elizabeth Vaughn (his mother Harriet Gauthier "Hallie" Brooks), and their extended families. • Wharton Dance (1940) • Texas Town (1941) • Only the Heart (1942) • Out of My House (1942) • Two Southern Idylls: Miss Lou / The Girls (1943) • The Lonely (1944) • Goodbye to Richmond (1944) • Daisy Lee (one-act) (1944) • Homecoming (1944) • In My Beginning (1944) • People in the Show (1944) • Return (1944) • Celebration (1950) • The Chase (1952) smd • The Traveling Lady (1954) • The Dancers (1954) • John Turner Davis (1956) • The Midnight Caller (1956) • The Trip to Bountiful (1962) • Roots in a Parched Ground (''Orphans' Home'' cycle) (1962) • Tomorrow (1968) • Gone with the Wind (Author of book) (1972) • A Young Lady of Property (1976) • The Actor (San Francisco, 2002) • Getting Frankie Married — and Afterwards (South Coast Repertory, 2002) • Dividing the Estate (2008) • Harrison, TX: Three Plays by Horton Foote (Off-Broadway, 2012) ==Original screenplays==

• Tender Mercies (1983) • Alone (1997) • Main Street (2009) ==Memoirs==

• Farewell: A Memoir of a Texas Childhood (Scribner, 1999) • Beginnings (2001), Simon and Schuster, 2002, ==References==