He received Academy Awards for To Kill a Mockingbird, which was adapted from the 1960 novel of the same name by Harper Lee,[1] and the film, Tender Mercies (1983).
His play The Trip to Bountiful premiered March 1, 1953, on NBC with the leading cast members (Lillian Gish, Eva Marie Saint) reprising their roles on Broadway later that year.
[20] His three-play biographical series (three full-length pieces comprising three one-act plays each), mainly about his father, The Orphans' Home Cycle, ran in repertory Off-Broadway in 2009–2010.
These plays are Roots in a Parched Ground, Convicts, Lily Dale, The Widow Claire, Courtship, Valentine's Day, 1918, Cousins, and The Death of Papa.
[13] The combined productions received a Special Drama Desk Award "To the cast, creative team and producers of Horton Foote's epic The Orphans' Home Cycle".
Convicts, Lily Dale, Courtship, Valentine's Day and 1918 were filmed, and the latter three were shown on PBS in 1987 as a mini-series titled The Story of A Marriage.
[22] In describing his three-play work, The Orphans' Home Cycle, the drama critic for the Wall Street Journal said this: "Foote, who died last March, left behind a masterpiece, one that will rank high among the signal achievements of American theater in the 20th century.
[24] Foote did not attend the Oscars ceremony in 1963 because he did not expect to win, and so was not present to collect the award in person; it was accepted on his behalf by the film's producer, Alan J.
[25] Foote personally recommended actor Robert Duvall for the part of Boo Radley in To Kill a Mockingbird after meeting him during a 1957 production of The Midnight Caller at Neighborhood Playhouse in New York City.
"[citation needed] The film received five 1984 Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture and Best Original Screenplay (which Foote won).
[25] Other film scripts include Baby the Rain Must Fall starring Steve McQueen and Lee Remick, which was based on his play The Travelling Lady.
"[35] Playwright Lillian Hellman adapted his 1952 play and 1956 novel for the 1966 film The Chase, with Marlon Brando, Jane Fonda and Robert Redford.
[36][37][38] Foote provided the voice of Jefferson Davis for Ken Burns's critically acclaimed documentary, The Civil War (PBS, 1990).
Wood and Marion Castleberry co-edited The Voice of an American Playwright: Interviews with Horton Foote (Mercer University Press, 2012, ISBN 978-0881463972).
"[25] Foote made an effort to employ lifelike language in his writing, citing W. B. Yeats's work as an example of this realistic approach.
Hallie has appeared on stage in her father's works, including, for example, Dividing the Estate in 2008,[47] The Orphans' Home Cycle Part III: The Story of a Family in 2010[48] and Harrison, TX: Three Plays by Horton Foote Off-Broadway in 2012.
He served as a First Reader in a branch church in Nyack, New York, and also taught Sunday School for many years while living in New Boston, New Hampshire.
[53][54] Shelby Foote wrote the comprehensive three volume, 3000-page history, together titled The Civil War: A Narrative, upon which the series was partially based and who appeared in almost ninety segments.
Foote died in Hartford, Connecticut, on March 4, 2009, at the age of 92, while he was working on a production of The Orphans' Home Cycle to premiere in the city.