Colin Higgins (28 July 1941 – 5 August 1988) was an Australian-American screenwriter, actor, director, and producer. He was best known for writing the screenplay for the 1971 film ''
Harold and Maude
''Harold and Maude'' is a 1971 American romantic black comedy–drama film directed by Hal Ashby and released by Paramount Pictures. It incorporates elements of dark humor and existentialist drama. The plot follows the exploits of Harold Chase ...
'', and for directing the films ''
Foul Play'' (1978) and ''
9 to 5
Working(laboring) time is the period of time that a person spends at paid labor. Unpaid labor such as personal housework or caring for children or pets is not considered part of the working week.
Many countries regulate the work week by law, ...
'' (1980).
Life and career
Early life
Higgins was born in
Nouméa
Nouméa () is the capital and largest city of the French special collectivity of New Caledonia and is also the largest francophone city in Oceania. It is situated on a peninsula in the south of New Caledonia's main island, Grande Terre, an ...
,
New Caledonia, France, to an Australian mother, Joy (Kelly), and American father, John Edward Higgins, one of six sons. Higgins' father enlisted in the army following the
attack on Pearl Harbor
The attack on Pearl HarborAlso known as the Battle of Pearl Harbor was a surprise military strike by the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service upon the United States against the naval base at Pearl Harbor in Honolulu, Territory of Hawa ...
, and his mother returned to her home in Sydney with Colin and his elder brother. Apart from a brief stint in San Francisco in 1945, Higgins lived in Sydney until 1957, mostly in the suburb of
Hunters Hill
Hunters Hill is a suburb of the lower north shore of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Hunters Hill is located north-west of the Sydney central business district and is the administrative centre for the local government ar ...
, attending school at
Saint Ignatius' College, Riverview
Saint Ignatius' College Riverview is an Australian independent single-sex primary and secondary day and boarding school for boys, conducted in the Jesuit tradition, located in Riverview, a small suburb located on the Lane Cove River on the ...
.
After moving to
Redwood City, California
Redwood City is a city on the San Francisco Peninsula in Northern California's Bay Area, approximately south of San Francisco, and northwest of San Jose. Redwood City's history spans its earliest inhabitation by the Ohlone people to being a ...
, Higgins attended
Stanford University for a year, but then lost his scholarship because he became "obsessed" with theatre. He moved to New York and hung around the
Actors Studio
The Actors Studio is a membership organization for professional actors, theatre directors and playwrights at 432 West 44th Street between Ninth and Tenth avenues in the Hell's Kitchen neighborhood of Manhattan in New York City. It was founde ...
but could not find work, so he became a page at the ABC television studios. He lost hope at becoming an actor and enlisted in the U.S. Army, where he was sent to Germany and worked for ''
Stars and Stripes'' newspaper.
Higgins was discharged in 1965, spent six months in Europe, mostly in Paris, then returned to
Stanford University to study a Bachelor of Arts in Creative Writing. Higgins later said, "after I had traveled and worked for a while I was anxious to study for the sake of studying. I took courses for what they were, not so that I could sleep in."
While at college Higgins supported himself as an actor, playing in small theatre productions, including acting in a sex farce called ''
Once Over Nightly
''Once Over Nightly'' is a sex comedy play. It ran for over two years in San Francisco.J ...
'' for a year and a half. He wrote a play ''Once Around the Quad'' which was performed at Stanford after he left.
Hollywood
After Higgins graduated from Stanford he got a job as an able-bodied seaman "because I wanted to see the Orient. It didn't take me long to realize that the days of
Conrad
Conrad may refer to:
People
* Conrad (name)
Places
United States
* Conrad, Illinois, an unincorporated community
* Conrad, Indiana, an unincorporated community
* Conrad, Iowa, a city
* Conrad, Montana, a city
* Conrad Glacier, Washingto ...
and
Eugene O'Neill
Eugene Gladstone O'Neill (October 16, 1888 – November 27, 1953) was an American playwright and Nobel laureate in Nobel Prize in Literature, literature. His poetically titled plays were among the first to introduce into the U.S. the drama tech ...
were over. There was no work and too many people to do it."
He visited
Expo 67
The 1967 International and Universal Exposition, commonly known as Expo 67, was a general exhibition from April 27 to October 29, 1967. It was a category One World's Fair held in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It is considered to be one of the most su ...
in Montreal and was inspired by the film exhibits there and decided to learn about film. He began working on a
Master of Fine Arts
A Master of Fine Arts (MFA or M.F.A.)
is a terminal degree in fine arts, including visual arts, creative writing, graphic design, photography, filmmaking, dance, theatre, other performing arts and in some cases, theatre management or arts a ...
in screenwriting at
UCLA
The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a Normal school, teachers colle ...
, where his classmates included
Paul Schrader
Paul Joseph Schrader (; born July 22, 1946) is an American screenwriter, film director, and film critic. He first received widespread recognition through his screenplay for Martin Scorsese's ''Taxi Driver'' (1976). He later continued his collabo ...
. While there he made two short films, ''Opus One'' (1968), a satire on student films, and ''Retreat'', an anti-war statement. His M.F.A. thesis would serve as the basis for ''
Harold and Maude
''Harold and Maude'' is a 1971 American romantic black comedy–drama film directed by Hal Ashby and released by Paramount Pictures. It incorporates elements of dark humor and existentialist drama. The plot follows the exploits of Harold Chase ...
'' (1971).
''Harold and Maude''
After graduating he went to work for a wealthy family in Los Angeles as a part-time chauffeur and pool cleaner in exchange for free accommodation, where he met film producer
Ed Lewis Edward Lewis may refer to:
Politicians
*Edward Lewis (Devizes MP) (1650–1674), British MP for Devizes, 1669–1674
*Edward Lewis (Radnor MP), British MP for Radnor, 1761–1768, 1769–1774 and 1775–1790
*Edward Parke Custis Lewis (1837–1892 ...
. Higgins showed a draft of ''Harold and Maude'' to Lewis, who then showed it to
Robert Evans
Robert Evans (born Robert J. Shapera; June 29, 1930October 26, 2019) was an American film producer, studio executive, and actor, best known for his work on '' Rosemary's Baby'' (1968), ''Love Story'' (1970), ''The Godfather'' (1972), and '' Ch ...
at Paramount. Higgins wanted to direct the script himself and was allowed to shoot a director's test for $7,000 but Paramount was not sufficiently impressed, and
Hal Ashby
William Hal Ashby (September 2, 1929 – December 27, 1988) was an American film director and editor associated with the New Hollywood wave of filmmaking.
Before his career as a director Ashby edited films for Norman Jewison, notably ''The Ru ...
was hired. Higgins collaborated well with Ashby and both were pleased with the final film, but it was not a large box-office success on original release.
Higgins got an offer to write a
Movie of the Week
A television film, alternatively known as a television movie, made-for-TV film/movie or TV film/movie, is a feature-length film that is produced and originally distributed by or to a television network, in contrast to theatrical films made for ...
for TV, ''
The Devil's Daughter'' (1972), which he later described as "just a job". He also wrote a TV movie, ''The Distributor'', which was not made, and a feature film script, ''Killing Lydia'', which would later become the basis for his 1978 film ''
Foul Play''. He then received an offer from
Jean-Louis Barrault
Jean-Louis Bernard Barrault (; 8 September 1910 – 22 January 1994) was a French actor, director and mime artist who worked on both screen and stage.
Biography
Barrault was born in Le Vésinet in France in 1910. His father was 'a Burgundi ...
in Paris to turn ''Harold and Maude'' into a play for French actor
Madeleine Renaud
Lucie Madeleine Renaud (; 21 February 1900 – 23 September 1994) was a French actress best remembered for her work in the theatre. She did though appear in several films directed by Jean Grémillon including '' Remorques'' (''Stormy Waters' ...
. Higgins did so, working on the French translation with
Jean-Claude Carrière
Jean-Claude Carrière (; 17 September 1931 – 8 February 2021) was a French novelist, screenwriter and actor. He received an Academy Award for best short film for co-writing ''Heureux Anniversaire'' (1963), and was later conferred an Honorary ...
, and the play ran for seven years. The film of ''Harold and Maude'' continued to run in cinemas around the world, where by 1983 it was in profit. (The same year it was estimated Higgins had earned $1 million from his script and productions of the play.)
While in Paris, Higgins met theatre director
Peter Brook
Peter Stephen Paul Brook (21 March 1925 – 2 July 2022) was an English theatre and film director. He worked first in England, from 1945 at the Birmingham Repertory Theatre, from 1947 at the Royal Opera House, and from 1962 for the Royal Shak ...
and worked with him as playwright-in-residence for his company. They did a play about
mountain people in Uganda called ''
The Ik
''The Ik'' is a 1975 play by Colin Higgins and Denis Cannan adapted from the 1972 book by Colin Turnbull about the Ik people titled ''The Mountain People''.
It was devised with director Peter Brook.
External links
* (1976 Royal Shakespeare ...
'' which ran in Paris, London and New York. The producers of ''The Devil's Daughter'' hired Higgins to write a Hitchcock-style thriller. This became ''
Silver Streak'' (1976), which was a hit under the direction of
Arthur Hiller
Arthur Hiller, (November 22, 1923 – August 17, 2016) was a Canadian-American television and film director with over 33 films to his credit during a 50-year career. He began his career directing television in Canada and later in the U.S. By t ...
. Higgins later said if he had directed it he would have been "a bit less faithful to the writer; I would have slashed away."
Director
The success of ''Silver Streak'' enabled Higgins to revive his earlier script, ''
Foul Play'' (1978), and direct the film himself. It was enormously popular at the box office and launched his directing career.
He was writing a comedy-thriller, ''The Man Who Lost Tuesday'' when he received an offer to re-write and direct ''
9 to 5
Working(laboring) time is the period of time that a person spends at paid labor. Unpaid labor such as personal housework or caring for children or pets is not considered part of the working week.
Many countries regulate the work week by law, ...
'' (1980).
It was a big hit, as was the musical ''
The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas
''The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas'' is a musical with a book by Texas author Larry L. King and Peter Masterson and music and lyrics by Carol Hall. It is based on a story by King that was inspired by the real-life Chicken Ranch in La Gran ...
'' (1982), which Higgins directed.
He was meant to follow it with ''The Man Who Lost Tuesday'' but Paramount felt the budget was too high and passed.
In 1985, he was working on a project with playwright Jonathan Reynolds. In 1986, he was reportedly writing a script, ''Washington Girls'', as a vehicle to reunite Jane Fonda, Lily Tomlin and Dolly Parton.
His last credit was a TV movie, ''Out on a Limb'' (1987), which he co-wrote and co-produced.
Legacy and Death
Higgins, who was openly gay,
died of an AIDS-related illness at his home on August 5, 1988 at the age of 47. The Colin Higgins Foundation was established in 1986 to provide support for gay and transgender youth. It was established by Higgins following his diagnosis with
HIV
The human immunodeficiency viruses (HIV) are two species of '' Lentivirus'' (a subgroup of retrovirus) that infect humans. Over time, they cause acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), a condition in which progressive failure of the immu ...
in 1985. His writing is said to have inspired filmmakers like
Judd Apatow
Judd Apatow (; born December 6, 1967) is an American comedian, director, producer, and screenwriter, best known for his work in comedy and drama films. He is the founder of Apatow Productions, through which he produced and directed the films '' ...
,
Seth Rogen
Seth Aaron Rogen (; born April 15, 1982) is a Canadian-American actor, comedian and filmmaker. Originally a stand-up comedian in Vancouver, he moved to Los Angeles for a part in Judd Apatow's series '' Freaks and Geeks'', and then got a part ...
,
Wes Anderson
Wesley Wales Anderson (born May 1, 1969) is an American filmmaker. His films are known for their eccentricity and unique visual and narrative styles. They often contain themes of grief, loss of innocence, and dysfunctional families. Cited by s ...
and
Paul Feig
Paul Samuel Feig (; born September 17, 1962) is an American actor, comedian and filmmaker. He is known for directing films starring frequent collaborator Melissa McCarthy, including '' Bridesmaids'' (2011), '' The Heat'' (2013), '' Spy'' (20 ...
.
His brother is Australian actor John Higgins.
Filmography
Film
Actor
Unmade screenplays
*''The Man Who Lost Tuesday'' – a comedy thriller set in Paris
*''First Lady'' – a satire on politics to star
Lily Tomlin
Mary Jean "Lily" Tomlin (born September 1, 1939) is an American actress, comedian, writer, singer, and producer. She started her career as a stand-up comedian as well as performing off-Broadway during the 1960s. Her breakout role was on the vari ...
Theatre
*''Harold and Maude'' (1972)
*''
The Ik
''The Ik'' is a 1975 play by Colin Higgins and Denis Cannan adapted from the 1972 book by Colin Turnbull about the Ik people titled ''The Mountain People''.
It was devised with director Peter Brook.
External links
* (1976 Royal Shakespeare ...
'' (1975)
References
External links
The Colin Higgins Foundation*
*
*
*
Finding aid for the Colin Higgins Papers
{{DEFAULTSORT:Higgins, Colin
1941 births
1988 deaths
People from Nouméa
AIDS-related deaths in California
American male film actors
American film producers
American film directors
American male screenwriters
American people of Australian descent
American gay actors
American gay writers
LGBT screenwriters
LGBT film directors
Stanford University alumni
UCLA Film School alumni
20th-century American male actors
20th-century American businesspeople
20th-century American male writers
20th-century American screenwriters
20th-century LGBT people