Robert Harris Chapman (April 4, 1919 – September 27, 2000) was an American

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 ...

and longtime academic of English literature and drama at

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

. He is best remembered for co-authoring the 1951

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 ...

play ''

Billy Budd ''Billy Budd, Sailor (An Inside Narrative)'', also known as ''Billy Budd, Foretopman'', is a novella by American writer Herman Melville, left unfinished at his death in 1891. Acclaimed by critics as a masterpiece when a hastily transcribed vers ...

'', adapted from

Herman Melville Herman Melville (Name change, born Melvill; August 1, 1819 – September 28, 1891) was an American novelist, short story writer, and poet of the American Renaissance (literature), American Renaissance period. Among his best-known works ar ...

's novel of the same name, with

Louis O. Coxe Louis Osborne Coxe (April 15, 1918 – May 25, 1993) was an American poet, playwright, essayist, and professor who was recognized by the Academy of American Poets for his "long, powerful, quiet accomplishment, largely unrecognized, in lyric ...

. Their play won the Donaldson Award for Best First Play and the

Outer Critics Circle Award The Outer Critics Circle Awards are presented annually for theatrical achievements both on Broadway and Off-Broadway. They are presented by the Outer Critics Circle (OCC), the official organization of New York theater writers for out-of-town news ...

for Best Play in 1951.

Life and career

Born in

Highland Park, Illinois Highland Park is a suburban city located in southeastern Lake County, Illinois, United States, about north of downtown Chicago. Per the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 30,176. Highland Park is one of several municipali ...

, Chapman earned a bachelor's degree in English Literature from

Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private Ivy League research university in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial ...

in 1941, and an honorary master's degree from Harvard in 1956. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

he was stationed in Morocco and Europe while working for United States Navy intelligence with the rank of lieutenant. After the war, he taught briefly on the faculty of Princeton University before accepting a position as an instructor in the Department of Dramatic Arts at the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after t ...

, where he worked from 1948 to 1950. In 1950 Chapman joined the faculty at

as an Assistant Professor of English, and was later promoted to Associate Professor in 1956 and a Professor of English Literature in 1967. Some of the courses he taught at the university were classes on

George Bernard Shaw George Bernard Shaw (26 July 1856 – 2 November 1950), known at his insistence as Bernard Shaw, was an Irish playwright, critic, polemicist and political activist. His influence on Western theatre, culture and politics extended from the 188 ...

, Restoration drama, and a course entitled "Drama Since Ibsen". His notable pupils included

André Bishop André Bishop (born November 9, 1948) is an American theatrical producer, and artistic director and producing artistic director, of Lincoln Center Theater. He has produced over 80 Broadway plays and musicals and has won numerous Tony Awards. Earl ...

Tommy Lee Jones Tommy Lee Jones (born September 15, 1946) is an American actor. He has received List of awards and nominations received by Tommy Lee Jones, various accolades including an Academy Award, a Golden Globe Award, a Primetime Emmy Award and two Scre ...

John Lithgow John Arthur Lithgow ( ; born , 1945) is an American actor. He studied at Harvard University and the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art before becoming known for his John Lithgow filmography, diverse work on stage and screen. He has rece ...

Arthur Kopit Arthur Lee Kopit (; May 10, 1937 – April 2, 2021) was an American playwright. He was a two-time Pulitzer Prize finalist for ''Indians (play), Indians'' and ''Wings (play), Wings''. He was also nominated for three Tony Awards: Best Play for ...

, and

John Updike John Hoyer Updike (March 18, 1932 – January 27, 2009) was an American novelist, poet, short-story writer, art critic, and literary critic. One of only four writers to win the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction more than once (the others being Booth Tar ...

. From 1960 to 1980 he was director of the Loeb Drama Center for Harvard University and

Radcliffe College Radcliffe College was a Women's colleges in the United States, women's Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Cambridge, Massachusetts, that was founded in 1879. In 1999, it was fully incorporated into Harvard Colle ...

. He retired from Harvard University in 1989. As a playwright, Chapman's most successful work was an adaptation of

's ''

'' which he co-authored with

, a fellow faculty member at Princeton. The first version of their play, entitled ''Uniform of Flesh'', debuted

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 ...

at the Lenox Hill Theatre in 1949. The two men revised the work significantly, and retitled it ''Billy Budd'' for the work's staging on Broadway in 1951. While the work was financially unprofitable, it was a critical success; winning the Donaldson Award for Best First Play and the

for Best Play in 1951. The British actor

Sir Peter Ustinov Sir Peter Alexander Ustinov (16 April 192128 March 2004) was a British actor, director and writer. An internationally known raconteur, he was a fixture on television talk shows and lecture circuits for much of his career. Ustinov received nu ...

adapted the play into a film in 1962. Chapman's other plays included ''The General'', ''Hero'', and ''The Troublesome Tourist''. In addition to his work as a teacher and playwright, he served as an advisor to the

Juilliard School The Juilliard School ( ) is a Private university, private performing arts music school, conservatory in New York City. Founded by Frank Damrosch as the Institute of Musical Art in 1905, the school later added dance and drama programs and became ...

in its organization and planning of its drama school at the

Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts (also simply known as Lincoln Center) is a complex of buildings in the Lincoln Square neighborhood on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. It has thirty indoor and outdoor facilities and is host to 5 ...

. Chapman died at the age of 81 on September 27, 2000, in

Fort Lauderdale, Florida Fort Lauderdale ( ) is a coastal city located in the U.S. state of Florida, north of Miami along the Atlantic Ocean. It is the county seat of and most populous city in Broward County, Florida, Broward County with a population of 182,760 at the ...

, where he had lived since his retirement from Harvard.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chapman, Robert 1919 births 2000 deaths American dramatists and playwrights Harvard University faculty People from Highland Park, Illinois Writers from Fort Lauderdale, Florida Princeton University alumni Princeton University faculty University of California, Berkeley faculty United States Navy personnel of World War II