Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Frank Gilroy has passed away.
Gilroy, who was also a screenwriter, director and author, died on Sunday night in Monroe, N.Y., from natural causes, according to Deadline. He was 89 years old. He is survived by his wife Ruth, whom he was married to for 62 years, their three sons and five grandchildren. His family confirmed his death through a statement.
He had accomplished many things in his 89 years, from serving in the Army to winning a Tony award for "The Subject Was Roses," according to The Guardian. This was his best-known Broadway project, and he later turned it into a screenplay for a 1968 film adaptation which starred Jack Albertson and Patricia Neal. The film received two Oscar Nominations, and Albertson ended up winning one of them. He also worked on many other films and even some live television.
All three of his sons, Tony, Dan and John, work in the film industry. Tony is a writer-director who wrote the first three "Bourne" films and co-wrote and directed "The Bourne Legacy" alongside Dan. Dan wrote and directed "Nightcrawler," which starred Jake Gyllenhaal, while John was one of the film's editors.
While Gilroy was best known for "Roses," he always wanted to be more than just that. "I'd like to walk into a room sometime and be introduced as the author of something other than that play," he told The New York Times at the time of the show's opening. "There's always one thing in a career that has more impact than anything else. In my case, 'The Subject Was Roses' was that thing." After he went on to accomplish much more and his 1989 movie "The Luckiest Man in the World" was released, he realized how much more there was to look forward to in his career.
"I remember how I would wait for a play idea. I wasted a tremendous amount of time. I didn't realize that ideas could be made into movies or novels," he said at the time, according to The New York Times. "I hope I live long enough to write about all the ideas that have come to me since."
