Alfred Uhry's Pulitzer Prize-winning play, "Driving Miss Daisy," which began its life in a 74-seat off-Broadway upstairs showcase, has just taxied into its third year at New York's John Houseman Theater.
Meanwhile, this first effort at playwriting, written by a man then in his 50th year and hailed by more than one critic as "a small masterpiece," also enjoys tremendous success in theaters throughout the country as well as acclaim in Canada, Germany, Austria, Brazil, Belgium, Holland, South Africa, Scandinavia, Israel, France and Australia.When the 90-minute-long drama, which manages to leave an impact that can last a lifetime, was first presented at New York's Playwrights Horizons, the organization's artistic director told Alfred Uhry, then a prep school teacher: "God has smiled on you and made you a playwright."
Fortune has also smiled on Alfred Uhry and his play which tells of the deepening relationship between an elderly well-to-do widowed Jewish matriarch in Atlanta and her proud, not-so-young-himself black chauffeur over a period of about a quarter of a century. A film based on the play, with a script written by the playwright, recently completed production in Atlanta, the scene of the play and Uhry's home town.
Jessica Tandy, Morgan Freeman, who created the role of the chauffeur, and Dan Ackroyd star. Tandy's part, incidentally, was sought after by almost every older screen actress that comes to mind, including Katharine Hepburn and Bette Davis.
Frances Sternhagen and Earle Hyman, who plays Bill Cosby's father on the popular "The Cosby Show" on TV, star in the current New York production. Anderson Matthews portrays Miss Daisy's son, an Atlanta businessman who insists his mother hire a driver after she rams her car through her garage.
Julie Harris, winner of five Tony Awards, and Brock Peters have been touring the country with the play and soon a second national company, with Rosemary Prinz, the star of TV's "As the World Turns," and Ted Lange, whom audiences remember as the bartender on the "Love Boat" series, will begin performances in the fall. Charles Nelson Reilly will direct.
A Chicago company, with Charlotte Rae currently playing the strong-willed matriarch, is going strong. Others to play in the Chicago production, now in its second year, include Sada Thompson, who just closed in a production at San Diego's Old Globe Theater, Ellen Burstyn and Dorothy Loudon. In Atlanta, "Miss Daisy" is being interpreted by Mary Nell Santacroce, who happens to be the mother of the actress who originated the role, Dana Ivey. Another famous actress to do the role in London was Dame Wendy Hiller.
How does a half-century-old teacher and part-time song writer wind up "rich and famous" with his very first play?
Uhry tells it in his own words this way: "I was born and raised in Atlanta. All my forebears were southern and Jewish - merchants of one sort or another with no connection with show business whatsoever. I have one sister, a professor of art history at Georgia State University. I always wrote. In high school, I wrote the book, lyrics and music for a musical comedy which I also produced and directed.
"I've never acted. I went to Brown - class of '58 - and wrote shows there, too, but by then I realized I had limitations, so I confined myself to book and lyrics. I did two original musicals at Brown with music by Robert Waldman, with whom I have collaborated many times over the years.
"I also met my wife there, Joanna Kellogg, a year behind me. We have been married 28 years and have four daughters. When I came to New York after college, it was to break into musical comedy. Bob Waldman and I were hired by Frank Loesser to write songs for TV ads and in the process we learned a lot about songwriting from a master. I found later I also learned a lot about economy and style for writing dialogue as well.
"During those years, I wrote theme songs for TV shows such as `Hootenanny Saturday Night' and comedy material for `That Was The Week That Was' and lots of jingles. My first show was `Here's Where I Belong' in 1968. I wrote the lyrics, Waldman did the music and Terrence McNally did the book, based on Steinbeck's `East of Eden.' It was a terrible experience ... opening night on Broadway was closing night. I wasn't ready for the show to be a flop. I said to myself: `This won't happen to me.' I guess you just don't think you're going to get hit by a bus. Frank Loesser came up to me and said: `That's okay, kid, worse things have happened.' To, me it was a killer.
"After that I got a job teaching English and theater at the Calhoun School. I enjoyed the work and the kids and I learned a lot about playwriting, teaching and putting on Shakespeare plays. The first time I wrote dialogue professionally was when I adapted Eudora Welty's `The Robber Bridegroom' into a musical. Bob Waldman did the music and I did the book and lyrics. I was nominated for a Tony and two Drama Desk Awards in 1975," said Uhry.