Gilroy, Frank D. (1925-2015), an American playwright, screenwriter, and film director, won the 1965 Pulitzer Prize for drama for The Subject Was Roses (1965). This partly autobiographical family drama portrays the often painful relations among a father and mother and their grown son, who has just returned from fighting in World War II (1939-1945).
Frank Daniel Gilroy was born on Oct. 13, 1925, in New York City. He graduated from Dartmouth College in 1950. Gilroy began his career in 1952 writing television dramas. He gained recognition with his first produced play, Who’ll Save the Plowboy? (1964), about a middle-aged man struggling to live by his illusions. Gilroy adapted the play from a 1957 television drama. That Summer—That Fall (1967) tells the story of a woman’s passion for her stepson. The Only Game in Town (1968) is a comedy about a gambler and a Las Vegas chorus girl. Most of Gilroy’s later plays were one-act works.
As a screenwriter, Gilroy adapted The Subject Was Roses and The Only Game in Town into motion pictures. His other screenplays include From Noon Till Three (1976), which he adapted from his 1972 novel of the same name. He made his debut as a film director with Desperate Characters (1971) and later directed several of his screenplays. Gilroy died on Sept. 12, 2015.
