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Horton Foote, the Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright and Oscar-winning screenwriter, was born on March 14, 1916, in Wharton, Texas. At age ten, he felt a "calling" to become an actor, and by sixteen, he persuaded his parents to let him attend acting school. With their approval, he moved to Pasadena, California, where he studied acting for two years at the Pasadena Playhouse. Later, he relocated to New York City to study at Tamara Daykarhanova's Theatre School, where he was trained in Michael Chekhov's adaptation of the Second Studio technique from the Moscow Art Theatre. Foote would eventually be celebrated as the "American Chekhov," a connection rooted in his education.
As a co-founder of the American Actors Company, Foote took on minor stage roles before deciding that writing plays would better secure quality roles. He made his Broadway debut in 1944 with "Only the Heart," receiving greater acclaim for his writing than his acting.
Throughout the 1940s, Foote wrote for theater, including experimental pieces, and began writing for television to support himself. He became a key figure in the Golden Age of television drama, penning teleplays for Playhouse 90 (1956), The Philco Television Playhouse (1948), and The United States Steel Hour (1953). He earned an Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay for Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird (1962), which marked Robert Duvall's film debut. Foote also thrived on Broadway with plays like "The Chase," "The Trip to Bountiful" starring Lillian Gish, and "The Traveling Lady" featuring Kim Stanley.
Following To Kill a Mockingbird, Foote adapted "The Traveling Lady" into the film Baby the Rain Must Fall (1965). However, he grew disenchanted with Hollywood, especially after the film adaptation of The Chase (1966), despite involvement from Oscar-winner Sam Spiegel, adapter Lillian Hellman, director Arthur Penn, and a strong Marlon Brando performance, was critically panned and a box office failure.
Falling out of favor in both Hollywood and Broadway, Foote retreated to New Hampshire. A decade after To Kill a Mockingbird, Robert Duvall delivered a standout performance in Tomorrow (1972), based on Foote's adaptation of William Faulkner's story. The film was critically acclaimed. Foote, whom Duvall dubbed "the rural Chekhov," wrote an original screenplay for him ten years later. Tender Mercies (1983) earned both Foote and Duvall Oscars—Best Original Screenplay for Foote and Best Actor for Duvall. Two years later, Geraldine Page won the Best Actress Oscar for Foote's The Trip to Bountiful (1985), which also garnered him a third Academy Award nomination.
In the 1970s, Foote presented his nine-play cycle "Orphans' Home," inspired by his family. He remained active as a playwright and screenwriter through the 1980s and '90s. His 1995 play "The Young Man From Atlanta" won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama. Nominated for an Emmy in 1959 for adapting Faulkner's "The Old Man" for Playhouse 90, Foote won the Emmy for Outstanding Writing for a Miniseries or a Special 42 years later for his second adaptation, Old Man (1997). He continued his work into the 21st century, well into his 90s.
Among Foote's prose works is "Farewell: A Memoir of a Texas Childhood" (1999), recounting life in Wharton, Texas. He created the fictional town of Harrison, Texas, as the setting for many of his plays. The first two volumes of his autobiography, "Farewell" and "Beginnings," were published in 1999 and 2001, respectively.
In addition to his Pulitzer Prize and two Oscars, Foote received the William Inge Award for Lifetime Achievement in the American Theatre in 1989, a Gold Medal for Drama from the Academy of Arts and Letters in 1998, the Writers Guild of America's Lifetime Achievement Award in 1999, and the PEN American Center's Master American Dramatist Award in 2000.
Horton Foote's enduring success stems from his sincere exploration of the human condition and the reasons some individuals overcome tragedy while others do not. His recurring themes of belonging and the yearning for home have resonated with audiences for over six decades.
