David Chappe (November 8, 1947, in

Brooklyn Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...

– May 13, 2002, in

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

) was best known as the screenwriter who launched the bidding wars of the late 1980s with his script ''Gale Force''. David was a novelist, photographer, screenwriting instructor, story editor, artist and pianist.

Personal life

Chappe was born in

Flatbush Flatbush is a neighborhood in the New York City Borough (New York City), borough of Brooklyn. The neighborhood consists of several subsections in central Brooklyn and is generally bounded by Prospect Park (Brooklyn), Prospect Park to the nort ...

, New York and moved to

Appleton, Wisconsin Appleton () is the county seat of Outagamie County, Wisconsin, United States, with small portions extending into Calumet County, Wisconsin, Calumet and Winnebago County, Wisconsin, Winnebago counties. Located on the Fox River (Green Bay tributary ...

, at age eight. He competed as a concert pianist from ages six to 16 and led canoe trips in the Canadian wilderness of the

Boundary Waters The Boundary Waters, also called the Quetico-Superior Country, is a region of wilderness straddling the Canada–United States border between Ontario and Minnesota, in the area just west of Lake Superior. While "Boundary Waters" is a common nam ...

. He earned his BA in History and Political Science from

Alfred University Alfred University is a private university in Alfred, New York, United States. It has a total undergraduate population of approximately 1,600 students. The university hosts the statutory New York State College of Ceramics, which includes The In ...

, and his

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 admi ...

from

Visual Studies Workshop Visual Studies Workshop (VSW) is a non-profit organization dedicated to art education based in Rochester, New York, in the Susan B. Anthony House, Susan B. Anthony Neighborhood. VSW supports makers and interpreters of images through education, pu ...

Rochester, New York Rochester is a city in and the county seat, seat of government of Monroe County, New York, United States. It is the List of municipalities in New York, fourth-most populous city and 10th most-populated municipality in New York, with a populati ...

, in 1978. He learned to tell stories through sequencing of photographic images and later used that visual story sense in writing screenplays. While at VSW Chappe printed dozens of small publications on their Heidelberg Press and moved to Los Angeles in 1980 to work for another small press. Chappe died in 2002 after a four-year battle with

angiosarcoma Angiosarcoma is a rare and aggressive cancer that starts in the endothelial cells that line the walls of blood vessels or lymphatic vessels. Since they are made from Endothelium, vascular lining, they can appear anywhere and at any age, but older ...

. He was survived by his wife June Stoddard, daughters Chloe and Jessica, mother Bess, brother Marc, aunt Millie Kleineman and nephew Durin.

Film career

Surrounded by screenwriters in

Venice, California Venice is a neighborhood of the City of Los Angeles within the Westside region of Los Angeles County, California, United States. Venice was founded by Abbot Kinney in 1905 as a seaside resort town. It was an independent city until 1926, whe ...

, he wrote nearly twenty original screenplays and two novels. Prior to his screenwriting career David wrote for ''

He-Man and the Masters of the Universe ''He-Man and the Masters of the Universe'' (often referred to simply as ''He-Man'') is an American animated television series produced by Filmation based on Mattel's toy line ''Masters of the Universe''. The show was one of the most popular an ...

''. In just five years he read and wrote coverage on over 5,000 screenplays, becoming the Story Editor for White Eagle Enterprises,

Sylvester Stallone Sylvester Gardenzio "Sly" Stallone (; born July 6, 1946) is an American actor and filmmaker. In a Sylvester Stallone filmography, film career spanning more than fifty years, Stallone has received List of awards and nominations received by Syl ...

's company. In 1989 he finished ''Gale Force'' which was snapped up by

Dan Melnick Daniel Melnick (April 21, 1932 – October 13, 2009) was an American film producer. He began his career in Hollywood, Los Angeles, Hollywood as a teenager in television and later became the producer of such films as ''All That Jazz (film), All ...

who partnered to produce it with

Carolco Carolco Pictures, Inc. was an American independent film studio that was founded by Mario Kassar and Andrew G. Vajna in 1976. Kassar and Vajna ran Carolco together until 1989, when Vajna left to form Cinergi Pictures. Carolco hit its peak in ...

and actively aided

in the bidding. Stallone was to star. The script was repeatedly rewritten. Relative newcomer

Renny Harlin Renny Harlin (born Renny Lauri Mauritz Harjola; 15 March 1959) is a Finnish film director, Film producer, producer, and screenwriter who has worked in Cinema of the United States, Hollywood, Europe, and Cinema of China, China. His best-known film ...

was hired to direct and worked with seven rewriters. After years of rewrites the plug was pulled two weeks before production and the entire creative team moved to ''

Cliffhanger A cliffhanger or cliffhanger ending is a plot device in fiction which features a main character in a precarious situation, facing a difficult dilemma or confronted with a shocking revelation at the end of an episode of serialized fiction or bef ...

''. After the sale of Gale Force Chappe continued to write original screenplays, novels, became a re-writer for Hollywood action films, and wrote the production draft of the 1999 film ''

Beowulf ''Beowulf'' (; ) is an Old English poetry, Old English poem, an Epic poetry, epic in the tradition of Germanic heroic legend consisting of 3,182 Alliterative verse, alliterative lines. It is one of the most important and List of translat ...

''.

Selected filmography

TV *''

Disappearing Act'', 1983 Film *''

'', 1999

References

External links

* * * * *Variety International" (USA) November 1998, pg. 1-, "Where are they now? Spec authors.." *"LA Weekly" (USA) June 1989, "Gale Force takes the Market by Storm" * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Chappe, David 1947 births 2002 deaths American male screenwriters Deaths from angiosarcoma Visual Studies Workshop alumni 20th-century American male writers 20th-century American screenwriters Deaths from cancer in California