“Mockingbird” Screenwriter Horton Foote Dead

Oscar and Pulitzer Prize winning playwright dies "peacefully" at 92-year-old

Legendary playwright and screenwriter Horton Foote has died at the age of 92, a spokesman for Hartford Stage Company in Connecticut announced today.

Foote was in Hartford collaborating with the Hartford Stage Company on a number of projects.  His adaptation of Harper Lee’s novel “To Kill A Mockingbird” is currently being produced by the theater.
 
"I am very sad to lose my dear friend, close collaborator, and mentor Horton Foote, today.  He was the warmest, generous, and most compassionate artist in the American Theatre," said Michael Wilson, Hartford Stage Artistic Director. "He created so many unforgettable characters, in so many indelible stories for the stage and screen that lifted our hearts and souls, and gave such vivid expression as to what it means to be human," Wilson went on to say.
 
Foote won an Oscar in 1962 for his screenplay adaptation of “To Kill A Mockingbird.”  He did not attend the Oscars ceremony in 1962 because he did not expect to win, so he was not present to collect the award in person.
 
He also won acclaim for his moving portrayals of common people in the plays "The Trip to Bountiful" and ''Tender Mercies."
 
Foote had produced plays on Broadway, Off-Broadway, Off-Off Broadway and at many regional theatres.  Foote received a Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1995 for his play, “The Young Man From Atlanta.”
 
Foote was born in 1916 in Wharton, Texas. He was married to Lillian Vallish Foote in 1945.  She passed away in 1992.  Their four children followed Foote into the arts: Horton, Jr. and Hallie, are actors while Daisy chose to become a playwright and son Walter became a director.  All had worked on projects with their father.
 
Foote died peacefully in his sleep at his temporary home in Hartford.  A memorial service is being planned and will be announced at a later date.
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