Mark Medoff, who won a Tony Award for writing Children of a Lesser God and earned an Oscar nom for its movie adaptation, died Tuesday at Mesilla Valley Hospice in Las Cruces, NM. He was 79.
Children of a Lesser God won the 1980 Tony for Best Play and ran for more than two years and 880 performances at Broadways Longacre Theatre. The show about a hearing speech teacher at a school for the deaf who falls for a deaf custodian was turned into a 1986 feature directed by Randa Haines. The film starred William Hurt and Marlee Matlin, who won an Oscar and a Golden Globe for the role. Hurt and supporting actress Piper Laurie also scored Oscar noms, and the film was up for Best Picture but lost to Platoon.
Children of a Lesser God, 1986
A revival of Children of a Lesser God played on the Main Stem for six weeks last year. Medoff also penned Prymate, which had a brief Broadway run in 2004.
Medoffs other feature writing credits include The Outright Winner (2016), City of Joy (1992), Claras Heart (1988), Good Guys Wear Black (1978) and the 1979 adaptation of When You Comin Back, Red Ryder? — which was based on his play that won him the 1974 Drama Desk Awards for Outstanding New Playwright.
Born on March 18, 1940, in Mount Carmel, IL, Medoff also had roles in more than a half-dozen films, including his penned pics Claras Heart, Red Ryder? and Santa Fe (1997). He also produced a handful of features.
His final film is Walking with Herb, a faith-based drama starring Edward James Olmos, George Lopez and Mary McDonnell. Medoff wroRead More – Source
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