Edward Martino Crowley (August 21, 1935 – March 7, 2020) was an American playwright best known for his 1968 play '' The Boys in the Band''.

Biography

Crowley was born in Vicksburg, Mississippi. After graduating from The Catholic University of America (studying acting and show business) in Washington, D.C. in 1957, Crowley headed west to Hollywood, where he worked for a number of television production companies before meeting Natalie Wood on the set of her film '' Splendor in the Grass''. Wood hired him as her assistant, primarily to give him ample free time to work on his gay-themed play '' The Boys in the Band'', which opened

off-Broadway An off-Broadway theatre is any professional theatre venue in New York City with a seating capacity between 100 and 499, inclusive. These theatres are smaller than Broadway theatres, but larger than off-off-Broadway theatres, which seat fewer tha ...

on April 14, 1968 and enjoyed a run of 1,000 performances. Crowley became part of Wood's inner circle of friends that she called "the nucleus", whose main requirement was that they pass a "kindness" test. Off the success of the play, Crowley had a writing residency at Paramount Pictures, and wrote the screenplay for the movie '' Fade-In'', which was directed by Jud Taylor and starred Barbara Loden and

Burt Reynolds Burton Leon Reynolds Jr. (February 11, 1936 – September 6, 2018) was an American actor most famous during the 1970s and 1980s. He became well known in television series such as ''Gunsmoke'' (1962–1965), '' Hawk'' (1966) and '' Dan Augus ...

. However, he was displeased with rewrites on the screenplay by other writers, and used $1700 from his profits on his play to pay Paramount to take his name off the film. Director Taylor also ultimately asked his name be removed as well; the film's direction was credited to Alan Smithee. ''The Boys in the Band'' was adapted into a film in 1970 directed by

William Friedkin William David Friedkin (; August 29, 1935 – August 7, 2023) was an American film, television and opera director, producer, and screenwriter who was closely identified with the "New Hollywood" movement of the 1970s. Beginning his career in doc ...

. Crowley's 2002 sequel to ''The Boys in the Band'' was entitled '' The Men from the Boys''. In 2018 ''Boys in the Band'' was restaged on Broadway in a 50th anniversary revival featuring Matt Bomer, Jim Parsons, Zachary Quinto, and

Andrew Rannells Andrew Scott Rannells (born August 23, 1978) is an American actor. He is best known for originating the role of Elder Kevin Price in the 2011 Broadway musical ''The Book of Mormon (musical), The Book of Mormon'', for which he was nominated for th ...

. Crowley also wrote and produced ''Remote Asylum'' and the autobiographical ''A Breeze from the Gulf''. In 1979 and 1980, Crowley served first as the executive script editor and then producer of the ABC series '' Hart to Hart'', starring Wood's husband Robert Wagner and Stefanie Powers. His other credits include the teleplays for ''There Must Be a Pony'' (1986), ''Bluegrass'' (1988), ''People Like Us'' (1990), a reunion special of ''Hart to Hart'' in 1996 and stage play ''For Reasons That Remain Unclear'' (1993). Crowley appeared in at least four documentaries: '' The Celluloid Closet'' (1995), about the depiction of

homosexuality Homosexuality is romantic attraction, sexual attraction, or Human sexual activity, sexual behavior between people of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality is "an enduring pattern of emotional, romantic, and/or sexu ...

in cinema; '' Dominick Dunne: After the Party'' (2007), a biography of Crowley's friend and producer Dominick Dunne; ''Making the Boys'' (2011), a documentary about the making of the gay play and subsequent Hollywood movie; and ''The Boys in the Band: Something Personal'' (2020), a documentary about the 2020 Netflix film of the play. Crowley died in

Manhattan Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the County statistics of the United States#Smallest, larg ...

on March 7, 2020. He suffered a heart attack, after which he underwent open-heart surgery and died while recovering. The 2020 film was dedicated to the memory of Crowley. Crowley was openly gay.

References

External links

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'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Crowley, Mart 1935 births 2020 deaths 20th-century American dramatists and playwrights American male screenwriters American gay writers Lambda Literary Award for Drama winners American LGBTQ dramatists and playwrights LGBTQ people from Mississippi Catholic University of America alumni People from Fire Island, New York People from Vicksburg, Mississippi Writers from Mississippi American male dramatists and playwrights American people of Irish descent 20th-century American male writers Screenwriters from New York (state) Screenwriters from Mississippi 20th-century American screenwriters

Biography

See also

References

Further reading

Archival Sources

External links