David Adams Berry (July 8, 1943 – December 16, 2016) was an American

screenwriter A screenwriter (also called scriptwriter, scribe, or scenarist) is a person who practices the craft of writing for visual mass media, known as screenwriting. These can include short films, feature-length films, television programs, television ...

and

playwright A playwright or dramatist is a person who writes play (theatre), plays, which are a form of drama that primarily consists of dialogue between Character (arts), characters and is intended for Theatre, theatrical performance rather than just Readin ...

. He is best known for his stage play ''

The Whales of August ''The Whales of August'' is a 1987 American drama film directed by Lindsay Anderson and adapted by David Berry from his play of the same name. It stars Bette Davis and Lillian Gish as elderly sisters living on the Maine coast. The cast also fe ...

'' and its 1987 screen adaptation, for which he also wrote the screenplay.

Biography

Berry was born in

Denver, Colorado Denver ( ) is a List of municipalities in Colorado#Consolidated city and county, consolidated city and county, the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Colorado, most populous city of the U.S. state of ...

in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. Berry's first play, '' G. R. POINT,'' won him an

Obie Award The Obie Awards or Off-Broadway Theater Awards are annual awards given since 1956 by ''The Village Voice'' newspaper to theater artists and groups involved in off-Broadway and off-off-Broadway productions in New York City. Starting just after th ...

for Distinguished Playwriting and a Drama Desk Nomination for Best New American Play in 1977. The play was produced on

Broadway Broadway may refer to: Theatre * Broadway Theatre (disambiguation) * Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S. ** Broadway (Manhattan), the street ** Broadway Theatre (53rd Stre ...

in 1979, directed by

William Devane William Joseph Devane (born September 5, 1939) is an American actor. He is known for his role as Greg Sumner on the primetime soap opera ''Knots Landing'' (1983–1993) and as James Heller on the Fox serial dramas '' 24'' (2001–2010) and '' ...

and starring

Michael Moriarty Michael Moriarty (born April 5, 1941) is an American-Canadian actor. He received an Emmy Award and Golden Globe Award for his role as a Nazi SS officer in the 1978 miniseries ''Holocaust'' and a Tony Award in 1974 for his performance in the ...

Michael Jeter Michael Jeter (; August 26, 1952 – March 30, 2003) was an American actor. Known for his career on stage and screen, Jeter played diverse characters. He won a Tony Award and a Primetime Emmy Award. He portrayed Herman Stiles on the sitcom '' Eve ...

, and

Howard Rollins Howard Ellsworth Rollins Jr. (October 17, 1950 – December 8, 1996) was an American stage, film, and television actor. He was best known for his role as Andrew Young in 1978's ''King (TV miniseries), King'', George Haley in the 1979 miniseries '' ...

Brent Jennings Brent Jennings (born April 13, 1951) is an American actor. He was born in Little Rock, Arkansas, and is a 1969 graduate of Little Rock Central High School. He played Oakland Athletics The Oakland Athletics (frequently referred to as the Oa ...

, Lori Tan Chinn and others. Berry taught playwriting at the National Theatre Institute of the Eugene O'Neill Theater Center in

Waterford, Connecticut Waterford is a town in New London County, Connecticut, New London County, Connecticut, United States. It is named after Waterford, Ireland. The town is part of the Southeastern Connecticut Planning Region, Connecticut, Southeastern Connecticut ...

, as well as for the

Worcester, Massachusetts Worcester ( , ) is the List of municipalities in Massachusetts, second-most populous city in the U.S. state of Massachusetts and the list of United States cities by population, 113th most populous city in the United States. Named after Worcester ...

, Consortium for Higher Education. In 2005, he began teaching screenwriting at the

School of Visual Arts The School of Visual Arts New York City (SVA NYC) is a private for-profit art school in New York City. It was founded in 1947 and is a member of the Association of Independent Colleges of Art and Design. History This school was started by Silas ...

in New York City. He continued to write for both theatre and film. He died of a heart attack at the age of 73 on December 16, 2016, in Brooklyn, New York.

References

External links

* 1943 births 2016 deaths 20th-century American dramatists and playwrights American male screenwriters American male dramatists and playwrights 20th-century American male writers Writers from Denver {{US-screen-writer-1940s-stub