Gregory Allen Howard who wrote ‘Keep in mind the Titans’ dies
NEW YORK (AP) — Screenwriter Gregory Allen Howard, who skillfully tailored tales of historic Black figures in “Keep in mind the Titans” starring Denzel Washington, “Ali” with Will Smith and “Harriet” with Cynthia Erivo, has died. He was 70.
Howard died Friday at his house in Miami after a quick sickness, in accordance with an announcement from publicist Jeff Sanderson.
Howard was the primary Black screenwriter to jot down a drama that made $100 million on the field workplace when “Titans” crossed that milestone in 2000. It was a few real-life Black coach coming right into a newly segregated Virginia college and serving to lead their soccer crew to victory. It had the long-lasting line: “I don’t care for those who like one another or not. However you’ll respect one another.”
Howard stated he shopped the story round Hollywood with no success. So he took an opportunity and wrote the screenplay himself. ″They didn’t count on it to make a lot cash, nevertheless it grew to become a monster, making $100 million,” he stated. “It made my profession,” he informed the Instances-Herald of Vallejo, California, in 2009. The film made the Associated Press’ list of the best 25 sports movies ever made.
Howard adopted up “Keep in mind the Titans” with “Ali,” the 2002 Michael Mann-directed biopic of Muhammad Ali. Smith famously bulked as much as play Ali and was nominated for a greatest actor Oscar.
Howard additionally produced and co-wrote 2019′s “Harriet,” about abolitionist Harriet Tubman. Erivo lead a forged, that included Leslie Odom Jr., Clarke Peters and Joe Alwyn.
“I obtained into this enterprise to jot down in regards to the complexity of the Black man. I wished to jot down about Martin Luther King, Malcolm X, Muhammad Ali, Marcus Harvey. I feel it takes a Black man to jot down about Black males,” he informed the Instances-Herald.
Born in Virginia, his household moved usually on account of his stepfather’s profession within the Navy. After attending Princeton College, graduating with a level in American historical past, Howard briefly labored at Merrill Lynch on Wall Road earlier than transferring to Los Angeles in his mid-20s to pursue a writing profession.
He wrote for TV and penned the play “Tinseltown Trilogy,” which centered on three males in Los Angeles over Christmastime as their tales interconnect and inform one another.
Howard additionally wrote “The Harlem Renaissance,” a restricted sequence for HBO, “Misty,” the story of prima ballerina Misty Copeland and “This Little Gentle,” the Fannie Lou Hamer story. Most not too long ago, he wrote the civil rights challenge “Energy to the Individuals” for producer Ben Affleck and Paramount Footage.
He’s survived by a sister, Lynette Henley; a brother, Michael Henley; two nieces and a nephew.
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Mark Kennedy is at http://twitter.com/KennedyTwits