Great American playwright and Academy-Award winning screenwriter Horton Foote has died.
Ben Brantley writes, in his lovely appreciation of Foote’s work, that
“[Foote] achieves his deepest effects by indirection and accretion of details, but the words are characteristic of his harsh sentimentality. He infused his characters with warm blood from his own, empathetic heart. But he also looked upon these same people with a cold and ruthless eye.
I think he loved all his characters â even the silly, mean and mercenary ones (of which there are many) â but he was too honest to let any of them off the hook. That means that each, on some level, was born to realize that to be alive is to be alone in the dark.
Brantley’s article brought me to tears. Don’t miss it.
Here are two posts I wrote about Foote:
One about his one-act play “The Old Beginning”.
One about “The Blind Date”, one of my favorites of his many one-acts.
Ted has two tributes up:
Our tender sharp-eared cultural chronicler
Ted writes:
I am realizing that this book reminds me of the plays of Horton Foote, but particularly his The Habitation of Dragons so redolent is it of a single moment of tragedy in a family’s life. Foote writes in an unfancy American idiom of the dramas that buffet ordinary folk in early 20th century small town Texas, rather than Ireland. His words aren’t inherently dramatic, they just contain the simple moments of lives unadorned, but moment builds upon moment until his characters are moved on a mammoth current of action that, in the case of Habitation of Dragons, is heart-rending. Foote is best known for the screenplays of Tender Mercies, To Kill a Mockingbird, and The Trip to Bountiful. He has written for the American theater from its heyday in the 1950s and is, I believe, still writing. I have directed and acted in a couple of his plays. I consider them required reading.
Horton Foote was 92. He was still working, up till the time of his death. The lights of Broadway were dimmed last night in his honor.
His voice will be missed.
As you said in one of those pieces, he was an “amazing dude.” (lol. I love that.)
I’ll have to keep it to that – seems as simple and direct and offhand as one of his characters, yet loaded with meaning and implication.
God, I mean – Tender Mercies!! The funny thing is when I think of that script and that movie, I mainly think of silence – how the script allowed so much silence into it (how refreshing) … but that’s all Horton Foote too. Understanding that some people just don’t talk all that much … but they are no less eloquent and worthy of examination because of that.
He had such a lovely, kind face. I can’t stop staring at that photo of the gathering of playwrights in the Brantley article. Miller, Albee…gah. Look at his face in that picture! He looks so happy.
R.I.P.
I love that photo too, Catherine – so amazing!!
Wow, another connection to one of your interests! Horton Foote was born and lived in our town of Wharton, TX. First Skyward and now this! “What hath God wrought?”
Bio
Horton Foote
Place of residence: Wharton, Texas.
Birthplace: Wharton, Texas.
Family: Hortonâs father was a shopkeeper in Wharton.
Education: Wharton High School.
Glenn – wow, I did not realize! Very cool! Would he come back a lot – did he still have family there, do you know??
I was lucky enough to have visited Horton in Wharton a couple of times. He jumped up in the front seat of our VW van we had at that time (think ms firecracker contest or whatever that movie is called) and we drove around for a little tour. Our first stop with him as guide was the local crack house – not to buy, just to look mind you – I was like “Horton, how the hell do you know about this?”
He was one of our true masters. How could he make our smallness so large? Thanks for the link, btw. This has been an utterly crazy time but we have to find time for red wine after the 20th!
Having played Felix, the warthog, I’m a little sensitive about The Blind Date – what a funny, but also beautiful, play – how those obstinate kids finally end up looking at the picture album together.
Ted – isn’t that the one where he lists the books of the Bible for her?? I forgot you played that part!! I LOVE that play.
MrG – Ha!! I love the anecdote! If you feel comfortable sharing more, I’d love to hear.
I met Horton Foote once at a party at the apartment of Pete Masterson and Carlin Glynn in New York, but it was a big crowd of luminaries and I didn’t really get to talk to him beyond Hi, how are you …
Well, the times I was around Horton he was always gracious and generous, and always curious and funny really. He had a real sly humor. When he introduced us to his daughter Daisy, who was writing plays at that time, he said, “Daisy these people are from Tucson. They are doing one of my plays. If you are any good maybe someday they will do one of yours.” One time in Wharton I kept going in the kitchen trying to help his cook Rose prepare dinner. She kept pushing me out, wouldn’t let me help. I said “Rose, I know Mr. Foote is a busy man and pays you well I guess to help out, but I’m not busy, I’m on vacation and I want to help.” No luck there though. When Horton came to Tucson to visit he said he was scared of the desert, scared of the mountains. He was disappointed too because I no longer had the VW Van (thank god). He would always ask me how I was gonna do theatre and raise children. I would always tell him the kids weren’t really mine or something like that – just joking or giving him a hard time – but give Horton an “in” on “gossip” and here would come the questions. One of his plays he wouldnt let be done because like so many of his works, it was very obviously about someone very specific in Wharton (hopefully not Glenn) and he didnt want it produced while they were still alive. Someone said to him at that time that he would probably pass on before they did so he said something to the effect like “well, I can let David do it in Tucson, no one would know.” So I said, “wait, what do you think we are? Cactus Theatre? We had like ten people at our last show!” Anyway, from my perspective in those few times, he always seemed to enjoy life, loved the theatre and could eat with the best of them.
But now I have this picture of him standing against the wall, wallflower like, at that party you mention! You move close to him, slowly and say quietly, “hey, how are you.”
Sheila,
Yes, he was back in Wharton quite often, and supposedly did a lot of writing from his residence here â which was his family home. I just looked in the local phone book and there he is: name, address, and phone number. Tomorrowâs local newspaper will probably mention his passing in detail. My cousin photographed him in his home a while back. You can see it at: http://www.johndettling.com/photos/favorites.htm One of his movies âBaby the Rain Must Fallâ was filmed in Wharton as well, one prominent location in the film âThe Wagon Wheelâ is still in existence.
“Whether he was in London or New York or California, part of his mind was always thinking about Wharton, Texas, and the stories of the people there.” âThe stories and lives of the people Mr. Foote loved in Texas became the bedrock for many of his plays, with the fictional Harrison, Texas, standing in for Wharton. Dividing his time mostly between Texas and New York, he kept the Wharton home in which he had grown up and did much of his writing there. “He lived in little Wharton, Texas, and he was listed in the phone book, and people would come to Wharton wanting to meet him and he would invite them in for snacks and conversations,” Guinn said. “He thought it would be rude to turn someone away.” http://www.star-telegram.com/804/story/1239876.html
Oh Glenn – what a lovely photo by your cousin, and some great additional information.
Thank you!
MrG – but give Horton an “in” on “gossip” and here would come the questions.
Wow, that really says a lot about who he was, his curiosity. You can feel it in his plays (there’s a reason the man is so often compared to Chekhov) – but yes, that questioning intelligence was so much a part of it.
Oh and Glenn – no pressure, but if you could let us know what the local obit says when it comes out, I think we all would love to hear.
There’s always something really nice and personal about LOCAL obituaries – although it is good to read the big national ones as well when someone famous has passed.
I always liked the music aspect in his plays. Theres always a song someone is singing, or a hymm, radio playing, dance, etc. There was a church directly across the street from his house in Wharton. I forget the denomination, but Horton said they were there way too often and always singing.
Glenn – thanks for the second link as well to the Star Telegram. Good stuff. That’s a very generous article, nice and detailed.
His plays were subtle and could be difficult to produce, she said, because they often turned on quiet moments as much as the dialogue.
That’s it, that’s it exactly.
I had been hearing a lot about the new cycle-play he was working on with Signature, and was looking forward to seeing it.
There’s a gorgeous documentary called “Fearful Symmetry” that is on the To Kill A Mockingbird CD, and it features rather extensive comments from the sweet, soft-spoken, deeply intelligent and understanding Mr. Foote. It’s well worth queueing on Netflix.
Sheila and MrG
Here is a quick little video I made during lunch today regarding your comments about Horton Foote:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=awRpH8-tor8&fmt=18
I probably won’t leave it on youtube forever because it would pretty silly to everyone but us.
Glenn
Glenn – you are so amazing. Thank you!!
And the ending!!! A sudden burst of laughter from yours truly.
Thank you for that!
Glenn– the fact that you drove around on your lunch break, taking that video …
Seriously. You are some seriously good people.
Glenn, that was awesome! Thank you.
btw, the story of the house(s)is in the plays too. That is the smaller house that was built by the father in law for Horton’s mother and father (Valentine’s Day). There is a larger adjacent house, behind that one I believe, that was the father in laws at one time, Horton’s grandparents I guess.