Israel Horovitz(1939-2020)

Israel Horovitz was the author of more than 50 produced plays, of which several have been translated and performed in as many as 30 languages, worldwide. He is among the most-produced American playwrights in French theatre history. Among Horovitz's best-known works are Line (now in its 25th year, off- Broadway, at the 13th St Repertory Theatre), The Indian Wants The Bronx (which introduced Al Pacino), Rats, It's Called The Sugar Plum (which introduced Marsha Mason and Jill Clayburgh), Morning, The Primary English Class (which starred Diane Keaton in its original NYC run, and was revived in NYC, this past September), The Wakefield Plays (a 7-play cycle, including Hopscotch, The 75th, Stage Directions, Spared, Alfred the Great, Our Father's Failing, and Alfred Dies), The Good Parts, Mackerel, and his "Growing Up Jewish" trilogy, Today, I Am A Fountain Pen, A Rosen By Any Other Name, and The Chopin Playoffs (a triumph off-Broadway, the entire trilogy was revived, at Fountain Theatre, Los Angeles). His plays have introduced Al Pacino, John Cazale, Richard Dreyfuss and Jill Clayburgh.

Other well-known Horovitz work includes his cycle of Massachusetts-based plays, including Park Your Car In Harvard Yard (which starred Jason Robards and Judith Ivey on Broadway), North Shore Fish, Henry Lumper, Sunday Runners In The Rain, Strong-Man's Weak Child, The Widow's Blind Date, Year Of The Duck, Fighting Over Beverley, Unexpected Tenderness, Barking Sharks, Captains and Courage, a stage adaptation of Kipling's Captains Courageous; and recent plays that have had their world premieres at Gloucester Stage: My Old Lady, and Lebensraum, which re-opened for a critically-acclaimed off-Broadway run in NYC in October, 1997; and premiered in London, April, 1998; One Under; and Stations of the Cross, which had its world premiere this past August, with Horovitz playing the lead role. NYC also saw Israel Horovitz Times Two: Free Gift and The Former One-On-One Basketball Champion, at the Kraine Theatre.

Horovitz's screenplays include The Strawberry Statement, AuthorAuthor!, A Man In Love (written with Diane Kurys), Believe In Me, and, recently, screenplays for film-adaptations of his stage-plays Strong-Man's Weak Child, North Shore Fish (filmed for Showtime Network), The Widow's Blind Date, Fighting Over Beverley (which Horovitz will direct), and, most recently, The Taste of Sunshine, co-authored with famed Hungarian director Istvan Szabo, filmed in Budapest, starring Ralph Fiennes. Horovitz wrote 300 Boys for HAL/Miramax Film, London; and another stage-play, set in the boxing world, Fast Hands. As an actor, Horovitz recently starred in several films, Dead Letters Don't Die, Trifecta, HBO's Subway Stories, Corps Plongés, and, most recently, played the lead role in The First Seven Years, based on a Brnard Malamud short story. Horovitz wrote Phone Tag for BBC Radio 4, and has starred in several BBC productions of his other radio plays, including The Chips Are Down, Fighting Over Beverley, and Stations of the Cross.

He won numerous writing awards, including the OBIE (twice), the EMMY, the Prix de Plaisir du Théâtre, The Prix du Jury of the Cannes Film Festival, The Prix Italia (for radio plays), The Christopher Award, The Drama Desk Award, an Award in Literature of the American Academy of Arts and Letters, The Elliot Norton Prize, a Lifetime Achievement Award from B'Nai Brith, The 1996 Literature Prize of Washington College, an honorary Doctorate in Humane Letters from Salem (Massachusetts) State College, and many others. Horovitz was founder and Artistic Director of Gloucester Stage Company, and of the New York Playwrights Lab.

Israel was born in Wakefield, Mass, the son of Hazel Rose (Solberg) and Julius Charles Horovitz. He was married to Gillian Adams, British National marathon champion; and was the father of film producer/actress Rachael Horovitz, novelist/actor Matthew Horovitz, Beastie Boys star/actor Adam Horovitz, and twins, Hannah and Oliver Horovitz. The Horovitz family divided its time among homes in NYC's Greenwich Village, London's Dulwich Village, and the seaport city of Gloucester, Mass. Horovitz visited France, frequently, where he often directed French-language productions of his plays.