Alfred Uhry
Encyclopedia
Alfred Fox Uhry is an American playwright
, screenwriter
, and member of the Fellowship of Southern Writers
. He is one of very few writers to receive an Academy Award, Tony Award
(2) and the Pulitzer Prize
for dramatic writing.
, the son of Ralph K., a furniture designer and artist, and Alene Fox, a social worker, married as Uhry. Uhry graduated from Druid Hills High School
in 1954 and subsequently graduated from Brown University
where he wrote two original musicals with Brownbrokers
. Druid Hills High School
's Uhry Theater is named in honor of Uhry. During his first years in New York City, learning the craft of lyric-writing, Uhry received a stipend from Frank Loesser
; after his eventual success, Uhry often praised Loesser's generosity and encouragement. Uhry is married to Joanna Kellogg. They have four daughters and live in New York.
for a number of commercially unsuccessful musicals, including America's Sweetheart
and a revival of Little Johnny Jones
starring Donny Osmond
. His first collaboration with Robert Waldman
was the disastrous 1968 musical Here's Where I Belong
, which closed after one performance. They had considerably better success with The Robber Bridegroom
, which was mounted on Broadway
in both 1975 and 1976, enjoyed a year-long national tour, and garnered Uhry his first Tony nomination.
(1987) is the first in what is known as his "Atlanta Trilogy" of plays, all set during the first half of the 20th century. Produced off-Broadway
at Playwrights Horizons
, the play earned him the Pulitzer Prize for Drama
. It deals with the relationship between an elderly Jewish woman and her black chauffeur
. He adapted it into the screenplay for a 1989 film starring Jessica Tandy
and Morgan Freeman
, an adaptation which was awarded the Academy Award for Writing Adapted Screenplay
.
The second of the trilogy, The Last Night of Ballyhoo
(1996), is set in 1939 during the premiere of the film Gone with the Wind
. It deals with a Jewish family during an important social event. It was commissioned for the Cultural Olympiad in Atlanta which coincided with the 1996 Summer Olympics
, and received the Tony Award for Best Play
when produced on Broadway
.
The third was a 1998 musical called Parade
, about the 1913 trial of Jewish factory manager Leo Frank
. The libretto
earned him a Tony Award for Best Book of a Musical
.
His play Edgardo Mine is based on the true story of Edgardo Mortara
, an Italian child taken by police from his Jewish family in 1858 because one of their domestic servants had baptized him.
In 2006 Manhattan Theatre Club
announced that it would produce Uhry's musical LoveMusik
on Broadway in 2007. His libretto depicts the relationship between composer Kurt Weill
and his wife, Lotte Lenya
, using Weill's music.
Uhry wrote the screenplay not only for the film version of Driving Miss Daisy
but also for the 1993 film Rich in Love
; he co-wrote the screenplay for the 1988 film Mystic Pizza
.
His next screenplay is for a film announced in 2009, From Swastika to Jim Crow
, a dramatization of a documentary about Jewish professors who flee Nazi Germany, find posts in the Southern US, and identify with their African-American students and their struggle under Jim Crow.
Playwright
A playwright, also called a dramatist, is a person who writes plays.The term is not a variant spelling of "playwrite", but something quite distinct: the word wright is an archaic English term for a craftsman or builder...
, screenwriter
Screenwriter
Screenwriters or scriptwriters or scenario writers are people who write/create the short or feature-length screenplays from which mass media such as films, television programs, Comics or video games are based.-Profession:...
, and member of the Fellowship of Southern Writers
Fellowship of Southern Writers
The Fellowship of Southern Writers is a literary organization founded in 1987 in Chattanooga, Tennessee by 21 Southern writers and other literary luminaries...
. He is one of very few writers to receive an Academy Award, Tony Award
Tony Award
The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Theatre, more commonly known as a Tony Award, recognizes achievement in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual ceremony in New York City. The awards are given for Broadway...
(2) and the Pulitzer Prize
Pulitzer Prize
The Pulitzer Prize is a U.S. award for achievements in newspaper and online journalism, literature and musical composition. It was established by American publisher Joseph Pulitzer and is administered by Columbia University in New York City...
for dramatic writing.
Early life
Uhry was born in Atlanta, GeorgiaAtlanta, Georgia
Atlanta is the capital and most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia. According to the 2010 census, Atlanta's population is 420,003. Atlanta is the cultural and economic center of the Atlanta metropolitan area, which is home to 5,268,860 people and is the ninth largest metropolitan area in...
, the son of Ralph K., a furniture designer and artist, and Alene Fox, a social worker, married as Uhry. Uhry graduated from Druid Hills High School
Druid Hills High School
Druid Hills High School is a high school operated by the DeKalb County School System. It is located at 1798 Haygood Drive, in the Druid Hills CDP in unincorporated DeKalb County, Georgia, United States...
in 1954 and subsequently graduated from Brown University
Brown University
Brown University is a private, Ivy League university located in Providence, Rhode Island, United States. Founded in 1764 prior to American independence from the British Empire as the College in the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations early in the reign of King George III ,...
where he wrote two original musicals with Brownbrokers
Brownbrokers
Brownbrokers is a student-run theater group at Brown University. Together with Brown's Theatre Arts and Performance Studies faculty, Brownbrokers develops and produces a full-length, student-written musical biyearly...
. Druid Hills High School
Druid Hills High School
Druid Hills High School is a high school operated by the DeKalb County School System. It is located at 1798 Haygood Drive, in the Druid Hills CDP in unincorporated DeKalb County, Georgia, United States...
's Uhry Theater is named in honor of Uhry. During his first years in New York City, learning the craft of lyric-writing, Uhry received a stipend from Frank Loesser
Frank Loesser
Frank Henry Loesser was an American songwriter who wrote the lyrics and scores to the Broadway hits Guys and Dolls and How To Succeed In Business Without Really Trying, among others. He won separate Tony Awards for the music and lyrics in both shows, as well as sharing the Pulitzer Prize for...
; after his eventual success, Uhry often praised Loesser's generosity and encouragement. Uhry is married to Joanna Kellogg. They have four daughters and live in New York.
Career
Uhry's early work for the stage was as a lyricist and librettistLibretto
A libretto is the text used in an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, masque, oratorio, cantata, or musical. The term "libretto" is also sometimes used to refer to the text of major liturgical works, such as mass, requiem, and sacred cantata, or even the story line of a...
for a number of commercially unsuccessful musicals, including America's Sweetheart
America's Sweetheart (musical)
America’s Sweetheart is a musical comedy with music by Richard Rodgers, lyrics by Lorenz Hart and book by Herbert Fields.-Production:America's Sweetheart premiered on Broadway at the Broadhurst Theatre on February 10, 1931 and closed on June 6, 1931 after 135 performances...
and a revival of Little Johnny Jones
Little Johnny Jones
For the blues pianist, see Little Johnny Jones Little Johnny Jones is a musical by George M. Cohan. The show introduced Cohan's tunes "Give My Regards to Broadway" and "The Yankee Doodle Boy." The "Yankee Doodle" character was inspired by real-life Hall of Fame jockey Tod Sloan.-Background:The...
starring Donny Osmond
Donny Osmond
Donald Clark "Donny" Osmond is an American singer, musician, actor, dancer, radio personality, and former teen idol. Osmond has also been a talk and game show host, record producer and author. In the mid 1960s, he and four of his elder brothers gained fame as the Osmond Brothers on the long...
. His first collaboration with Robert Waldman
Robert Waldman
Robert Waldman is an American composer, musical arranger, and orchestrator.Waldman has collaborated with Alfred Uhry twice, on Here's Where I Belong, the disastrous 1968 adaptation of John Steinbeck's East of Eden that closed on opening night, and the considerably more successful The Robber...
was the disastrous 1968 musical Here's Where I Belong
Here's Where I Belong
Here's Where I Belong is a musical with a book by Alex Gordon and Terrence McNally, lyrics by Alfred Uhry, and music by Robert Waldman.Based on John Steinbeck's classic novel East of Eden, the allegorical tale centers on the Trasks and the Hamiltons, two families drawn to the rich farmlands of...
, which closed after one performance. They had considerably better success with The Robber Bridegroom
The Robber Bridegroom (musical)
The Robber Bridegroom is a musical with a book and lyrics by Alfred Uhry and music by Robert Waldman. The story is based on the 1942 novella by Eudora Welty of the same name, with a Robin Hood-like hero; the adaptation placed it in a late 18th century American setting...
, which was mounted on Broadway
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
in both 1975 and 1976, enjoyed a year-long national tour, and garnered Uhry his first Tony nomination.
Atlanta Trilogy
Driving Miss DaisyDriving Miss Daisy (play)
Driving Miss Daisy is a 1987 play by Alfred Uhry about the relationship of an elderly Southern Jewish woman, Daisy Werthan, and her African-American chauffeur, Hoke Colburn, from 1948 to 1973...
(1987) is the first in what is known as his "Atlanta Trilogy" of plays, all set during the first half of the 20th century. Produced off-Broadway
Off-Broadway
Off-Broadway theater is a term for a professional venue in New York City with a seating capacity between 100 and 499, and for a specific production of a play, musical or revue that appears in such a venue, and which adheres to related trade union and other contracts...
at Playwrights Horizons
Playwrights Horizons
Playwrights Horizons is a not-for-profit Off-Broadway theater located in New York City dedicated to the support and development of contemporary American playwrights, composers, and lyricists, and to the production of their new work....
, the play earned him the Pulitzer Prize for Drama
Pulitzer Prize for Drama
The Pulitzer Prize for Drama was first awarded in 1918.From 1918 to 2006, the Drama Prize was unlike the majority of the other Pulitzer Prizes: during these years, the eligibility period for the drama prize ran from March 2 to March 1, to reflect the Broadway 'season' rather than the calendar year...
. It deals with the relationship between an elderly Jewish woman and her black chauffeur
Chauffeur
A chauffeur is a person employed to drive a passenger motor vehicle, especially a luxury vehicle such as a large sedan or limousine.Originally such drivers were always personal servants of the vehicle owner, but now in many cases specialist chauffeur service companies, or individual drivers provide...
. He adapted it into the screenplay for a 1989 film starring Jessica Tandy
Jessica Tandy
Jessie Alice "Jessica" Tandy was an English-American stage and film actress.She first appeared on the London stage in 1926 at the age of 16, playing, among others, Katherine opposite Laurence Olivier's Henry V, and Cordelia opposite John Gielgud's King Lear. She also worked in British films...
and Morgan Freeman
Morgan Freeman
Morgan Freeman is an American actor, film director, aviator and narrator. He is noted for his reserved demeanor and authoritative speaking voice. Freeman has received Academy Award nominations for his performances in Street Smart, Driving Miss Daisy, The Shawshank Redemption and Invictus and won...
, an adaptation which was awarded the Academy Award for Writing Adapted Screenplay
Academy Award for Writing Adapted Screenplay
The Academy Award for Writing Adapted Screenplay is one of the Academy Awards, the most prominent film awards in the United States. It is awarded each year to the writer of a screenplay adapted from another source...
.
The second of the trilogy, The Last Night of Ballyhoo
The Last Night of Ballyhoo
-Plot:The comedy is set in the upper class German-Jewish community living in Atlanta, Georgia in December 1939. Hitler has recently conquered Poland, Gone with the Wind is about to premiere, and Adolph Freitag and his sister Boo and nieces Lala and Sunny - a Jewish family so highly assimilated...
(1996), is set in 1939 during the premiere of the film Gone with the Wind
Gone with the Wind (film)
Gone with the Wind is a 1939 American historical epic film adapted from Margaret Mitchell's Pulitzer-winning 1936 novel of the same name. It was produced by David O. Selznick and directed by Victor Fleming from a screenplay by Sidney Howard...
. It deals with a Jewish family during an important social event. It was commissioned for the Cultural Olympiad in Atlanta which coincided with the 1996 Summer Olympics
1996 Summer Olympics
The 1996 Summer Olympics of Atlanta, officially known as the Games of the XXVI Olympiad and unofficially known as the Centennial Olympics, was an international multi-sport event which was celebrated in 1996 in Atlanta, Georgia, United States....
, and received the Tony Award for Best Play
Tony Award for Best Play
The Tony Award for Best Play is an annual award celebrating achievements in live American theatre, including musical theatre, honoring productions on Broadway in New York. It currently takes place in mid-June each year.There was no award in the Tony's first year...
when produced on Broadway
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
.
The third was a 1998 musical called Parade
Parade (musical)
Parade is a musical with a book by Alfred Uhry and music and lyrics by Jason Robert Brown. The musical was first produced on Broadway at the Vivian Beaumont Theater on December 17, 1998. The production was directed by Harold Prince and closed 28 February 1999 after only 39 previews and 84 regular...
, about the 1913 trial of Jewish factory manager Leo Frank
Leo Frank
Leo Max Frank was a Jewish-American factory superintendent whose hanging in 1915 by a lynch mob of prominent citizens in Marietta, Georgia drew attention to antisemitism in the United States....
. The libretto
Libretto
A libretto is the text used in an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, masque, oratorio, cantata, or musical. The term "libretto" is also sometimes used to refer to the text of major liturgical works, such as mass, requiem, and sacred cantata, or even the story line of a...
earned him a Tony Award for Best Book of a Musical
Tony Award for Best Book of a Musical
The Tony Award for Best Book of a Musical is awarded to librettists of the spoken, non-sung dialogue, and storyline of a musical play. Eligibility is restricted to works with original narrative framework; plotless revues and revivals are ineligible...
.
His play Edgardo Mine is based on the true story of Edgardo Mortara
Edgardo Mortara
Edgardo Levi Mortara was a Roman Catholic priest who was born and raised Jewish. Fr. Mortara became the center of an international controversy when he was removed from his Jewish parents by authorities of the Papal States and raised as a Catholic...
, an Italian child taken by police from his Jewish family in 1858 because one of their domestic servants had baptized him.
In 2006 Manhattan Theatre Club
Manhattan Theatre Club
Manhattan Theatre Club is a theater company located in New York City. Under the leadership of Artistic Director Lynne Meadow and Executive Producer Barry Grove, Manhattan Theatre Club has grown since its founding in 1970 from an Off-Off Broadway showcase into one of the country’s most acclaimed...
announced that it would produce Uhry's musical LoveMusik
LoveMusik
LoveMusik is a musical written by Alfred Uhry, using a selection of music by Kurt Weill. The story explores the romance and lives of Kurt Weill and Lotte Lenya, based on Speak Low : The Letters of Kurt Weill and Lotte Lenya, edited and translated by Lys Symonette & Kim H. Kowalke. Harold Prince...
on Broadway in 2007. His libretto depicts the relationship between composer Kurt Weill
Kurt Weill
Kurt Julian Weill was a German-Jewish composer, active from the 1920s, and in his later years in the United States. He was a leading composer for the stage who was best known for his fruitful collaborations with Bertolt Brecht...
and his wife, Lotte Lenya
Lotte Lenya
Lotte Lenya was an Austrian singer, diseuse, and actress. In the German-speaking and classical music world she is best remembered for her performances of the songs of her husband, Kurt Weill. In English-language film she is remembered for her Academy Award-nominated role in The Roman Spring of Mrs...
, using Weill's music.
Uhry wrote the screenplay not only for the film version of Driving Miss Daisy
Driving Miss Daisy
Driving Miss Daisy is a 1989 American comedy-drama film adapted from the Alfred Uhry play of the same name. The film was directed by Bruce Beresford, with Morgan Freeman reprising his role as Hoke Colburn and Jessica Tandy playing Miss Daisy...
but also for the 1993 film Rich in Love
Rich in Love
Rich in Love is a 1993 drama film based on the 1987 novel with the same name by Josephine Humphreys. The film stars Albert Finney, Katherine Erbe, Kyle MacLachlan, Jill Clayburgh, Suzy Amis, and Ethan Hawke.-Plot:...
; he co-wrote the screenplay for the 1988 film Mystic Pizza
Mystic Pizza
Mystic Pizza is a 1988 American coming of age film directed by Donald Petrie and starring Annabeth Gish, Julia Roberts, and Lili Taylor.The title of the film was based on a pizza shop that caught the eye of Hollywood screen writer, Amy Holden Jones...
.
His next screenplay is for a film announced in 2009, From Swastika to Jim Crow
From Swastika to Jim Crow
From Swastika to Jim Crow is a 2000 documentary that explores the similarities between Nazism in Germany and racism in the American south . In 1939, the Nazi government expelled Jewish scholars from German universities...
, a dramatization of a documentary about Jewish professors who flee Nazi Germany, find posts in the Southern US, and identify with their African-American students and their struggle under Jim Crow.
External links
- Profile at the Fellowship of Southern WritersFellowship of Southern WritersThe Fellowship of Southern Writers is a literary organization founded in 1987 in Chattanooga, Tennessee by 21 Southern writers and other literary luminaries...
- Interviewed by Paul Rudd for BOMB MagazineBomb MagazineBOMB is a quarterly magazine edited by artists and writers. It is composed, primarily, of interviews between creative people working in a variety of disciplines — visual art, literature, music, film, theater and architecture....