Lanford Wilson (April 13, 1937 – March 24, 2011) was an American playwright who helped to advance the Off-Off-Broadway theater movement, producing his earliest plays in New York at the Caffe Cino in 1964. He received the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1980 and was elected in 2001 to the Theater Hall of Fame. In 2004, Wilson was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters and received the PEN/Laura Pels International Foundation for Theater Award as a Master American Dramatist. He was nominated for three Tony Awards and has won a Drama Desk Award and five Obie Awards.Wilson was raised in Missouri by his mother, but in 1956 he moved to California, where he worked and attended college. There, Wilson lived with his father, who did not accept Wilson's homosexuality, and so, in 1957, he moved to Chicago, where he worked as a graphic artist and studied playwriting. In 1962, he moved to New York and began to write plays for Off-Off-Broadway theatres. His 1964 short play, The Madness of Lady Bright, was his first significant success and led to further works treating gay identity and other social and romantic issues throughout the 1960s. In 1969, he was a co-founder of Circle Repertory Company, for whom he wrote many plays in the 1970s. His 1973 play, The Hot L Baltimore, was the company's first major hit with both audiences and critics; its Off-Broadway run exceeded 1,000 performances.Wilson's Fifth of July was first produced at Circle Rep in 1978; for its Broadway production opening in 1980, he received a Tony Award nomination. A prequel, Talley's Folly (1979 at Circle Rep.), opened on Broadway before Fifth of July and won him the 1980 Pulitzer Prize for Drama and his first Tony nomination. Burn This (1987) was another Broadway success. Wilson also wrote the libretti for several 20th-century operas. In later years, he lived mostly in Sag Harbor on Long Island and continued to write plays into the 21st century.
Pulitzer Prize for Drama, PEN/Laura Pels International Foundation for Theater Award, Obie Award for Best New American Play, Obie Award for Playwriting, Obie Award for Lifetime Achievement, Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Revival, New York Drama Critics' Circle Award for Best American Play, Gugg...
Nominations
Tony Award for Best Play, Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Play, Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding Broadway Play, Primetime Emmy Award for Best Writing In Drama - Original Teleplay
Movies
The Migrants, Taxi!!!
Star Sign
Aries
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Quote
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I want people to see - and to read - my plays and to say: "This is what it was like living in that place at that time. People haven't changed a damn bit. We can recognize everyone."
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Fact
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He was awarded the 1987 Drama Logue Award for Outstanding Achievement in Playwriting for "Burn This" at the Mark Taper Forum Theatre in Los Angeles, California.
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His play, "Burn This" at the Mark Taper Forum Theatre was awarded the 1987 Drama Logue award for Outstanding Production.
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He was awarded the 1981 Drama-Logue Award for Outstanding Achievement in Playwriting for the play, "A Tale Told" at the Mark Taper Forum Theatre in Los Angeles, California.
4
His play, "5th of July," at the Mark Taper Forum Theatre in Los Angeles, California was awarded the 1979 Drama-Logue Award for Outstanding Production.
5
He was awarded the 1979 Drama-Logue Award for Outstanding Achievement in Playwriting for "5th of July" at the Mark Taper Forum Theatre in Los Angeles, California.
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He was awarded the 1979 Drama-Logue Award for Outstanding Achievement in Playwriting for "Talley's Folly" at the Mark Taper Forum Theatre in Los Angeles, California.
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His play, "Talley's Folly," at the Mark Taper Forum Theatre in Los Angeles, California was awarded the 1979 Drama-Logue Award for Outstanding Production.
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His play, "Talley's Folly" won the 1980 Pulitzer Prize for Drama.
9
His play, "Balm in Gilead", was awarded the 1981 Joseph Jefferson Award for Play Production at the Steppenwolf Theatre in Chicago, Illinois.
10
His play, "Talley's Folly", was nominated for a 1980 Joseph Jefferson Award for Play Production at the Goodman Theatre in Chicago, Illinois.
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Was nominated for Broadway's Tony Award three times as author of a Best Play nominee: in 1980 for "Talley's Folly," in 1981 for "Fifth of July" and in 1983 for "Angels Fall."
$13 Million
