IG news Update,
Screenwriter Gregory Allen Howard, who skillfully adapted the stories of historical Black figures remember the Titans starring Denzel Washington, Ali with Will Smith and Harriet With Cynthia Erivo, has died. He was 70 years old.
Howard died Friday at his home in Miami after a brief illness, according to a statement from publicist Jeff Sanderson.
Howard was the first black screenwriter to write a play that earned US$100 million at the box office titans crossed that milestone in 2000. It was about a real-life black coach who arrives at a newly integrated Virginia school and helps lead their football team to victory.
It had the iconic line: “I don’t care whether you like each other or not. But you gotta respect each other.”
Howard said he shopped the story around Hollywood without much success. So he took a chance and wrote the script himself.
‘It made my career’
“They didn’t expect it to make a lot of money, but it turned out to be a monster, making $100 million,” he said. “It made my career,” he told the Times-Herald of Vallejo, California, in 2009.
The film made the Associated Press’ list of the 25 best sports films of all time.
Howard followed remember the Titans With Ali, 2001 Muhammad Ali biopic directed by Michael Mann. Smith famously agreed to play Ali and was nominated for a Best Actor Oscar.
Howard also produced and co-wrote the 2019 HarrietAbout abolitionist Harriet Tubman. Erivo led a cast that included Leslie Odom Jr., Clark Peters, and Joe Alwyn.
He told the Times-Herald, “I came into this business to write about the complexity of the black man … I think it takes a black man to write about black people.”
from finance to film
Born in Virginia, his family moved frequently due to his stepfather’s career in the US Navy. After attending Princeton University, graduating with a degree in American history, Howard worked briefly at Merrill Lynch on Wall Street before moving to Los Angeles in his mid-20s to pursue a writing career.
He wrote for TV and wrote plays tinseltown trilogywhich focused on three men in Los Angeles at Christmas time as their stories intertwine and inform each other.
Howard also wrote Harlem Renaissancea limited series for HBO; Foggythe story of prima ballerina Misty Copeland; And this little light, The Fannie Lou Hammer Story. Most recently, he wrote the Civil Rights Project power to the people To producer Ben Affleck and Paramount Pictures.
He is survived by his sister Lynette Henley, brother Michael Henley, and two nieces and a nephew.