Gregory Allen Howard, the primary African American screenwriter for a $100 million drama with Remember The Titans, died at this time in Miami after a short sickness, his publicist stated. He was 70.
Howard was additionally the one African American screenwriter to attain a $100 million spec script for Remember the Titans, which starred Denzel Washington and was produced by Jerry Bruckheimer.
His credit included Ali, starring Will Smith and Jamie Foxx, directed by Michael Mannas, in addition to the award-winning stage play Tinseltown Trilogy. Howard was a two-time winner of the NAACP Image Awards, and in addition gained the Christopher Award, the Howard University Paul Robeson Award for inventive excellence, and the Heartland Film Festival Award for screenwriting excellence.
Harriet, initially titled Freedom Fire, was Howard’s first function project greater than 28 years in the past at Disney. Eventually, the film was made and starred Cynthia Erivo, Leslie Odom Jr., Janelle Monae and Joe Alwyn, with course by Kasi Lemmons.
Born in Norfolk, VA., Howard moved typically as a toddler earlier than settling in Vallejo, Calif. He went on to graduate from Princeton with a level in American History, which served him nicely along with his deal with historic matters in his screenwriting.
After leaving Los Angeles to return to his native Virginia, Howard discovered the story of the 1971 TC Williams High School soccer crew, the Titans. Howard, who performed offensive lineman on his highschool and school soccer groups, was impressed by the distinctive story of the combination of the championship highschool soccer crew that individuals within the city of Alexandria, Virginia credited for the city’s constructive race relations.
As an essayist, Howard contributed to the Taschen Muhammad Ali photograph/artwork e-book GOAT: Greatest of All Time. His essay, “Rumble in an Urban Jungle,” was chosen because the introduction.
As a author and producer, Greg wrote The Harlem Renaissance, a restricted collection for HBO; Misty, the story of prima ballerina Misty Copeland for New Line Cinema. He additionally wrote This (*70*) Light, the Fannie Lou Hamer story for Chris Columbus’s 1492 Pictures. Most lately, he wrote the civil rights undertaking Power to the People for producer Ben Affleck and Paramount Pictures.
In theater, Howard authored the award-winning play Tinseltown Trilogy, directed by Emmy-winner Ted Lange. He was a finalist for the Eugene O’Neill Playwright Award.
He is survived by his sister, Lynette Henley, and brother, Michael Henley (Denise), nieces Robyn Bacon (Rachael Martin) and Valencia Kamara (O.Z.) and nephew, Robert Henley, in addition to by his beloved grandniece and two grandnephews, and cousins Pierre Gatling and the Honorable Patricia Cole.
He was preceded in demise by his sister, Camille Cole Howard and his brother, Ricardo J. Henley.
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