About
Horton Foote had his first play, TEXAS TOWN, produced Off-Broadway in 1941. In a career that spanned over sixty-eight years, he had plays produced on Broadway, Off-Broadway, Off-Off-Broadway, and at many regional theatres around the country. His plays include THE LAST OF THE THORNTONS, THE YOUNG MAN FROM ATLANTA, THE TRIP TO BOUNTIFUL, NIGHT SEASONS, LAURA DENNIS, VERNON EARLY, THE ROADS TO HOME, THE CARPETBAGGER’S CHILDREN, THE DAY EMILY MARRIED, THE CHASE, TOMORROW, THE HABITATION OF DRAGONS, THE TRAVELING LADY, and DIVIDING THE ESTATE. He received Academy Awards for his screenplay adaptation of “To Kill a Mockingbird” and his original screenplay, “Tender Mercies.” During the Golden Age of Television, he authored numerous notable live television dramas. For his 1997 television adaptation of William Faulkner’s “Old Man”, he won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing of a Miniseries. He received the Pulitzer Prize and his first Tony nomination for his play THE YOUNG MAN FROM ATLANTA. In 1995, he was given the Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Achievement Off-Broadway and the Outer Critics Circle Special Achievement Award for the 1994-95 Signature Season of his plays. In 1996 he was elected to the Theatre Hall of Fame. In 1998 he was elected to membership in the American Academy of Arts and Letters, and received from the Academy its Gold Medal of Drama for his body of work. In 2000 he received the PEN/Laura Pels Foundation Award for Drama, New York State Governor’s Arts Award, and in December of that year he was given the National Medal of Arts Award by President Clinton. In 2006, his play THE TRIP TO BOUNTIFUL won the Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Revival and Foote was given the Drama Desk Lifetime Achievement Award. In 2008, his play DIVIDING THE ESTATE won the Obie Award and the Outer Critics Circle Award for its Off-Broadway production by Primary Stages. In 2008, the play transferred to Broadway’s Booth Theater under the auspices of Lincoln Center Theater, earning Foote his second Tony nomination for Best Play. Mr. Foote’s memoirs, “Farewell” and “Beginnings,” are published by Scribners. His biography, “Horton Foote: America’s Storyteller,” by Wilborn Hampton, is published by Simon & Schuster.