United States Marine Corps, 1955-58. B.A. Kent State University, 1962. Actor and Welfare Investigator, New York City, 1962-64. M.F.A. from UCLA motion picture division. Louis B. Mayer grant winner. Teaching assistant, 1968-69. Taught at Sherwood Oaks School, Los Angeles, 1977-79. Taught Summer writers' workshop at the National Film and Television School of England, 1985-90.
FEATURE FILMS:
Last American Hero, staring Jeff Bridges and Valerie Perrine, 20th Cent. Fox, 1973, uncredited. The Dion Brothers, staring Stacy Keach, Frederic Forrest, and Margot Kidder, Columbia, 1974, co-written. Hooper, staring Burt Reynolds, Sally Field, Brian Keith, and Jan Michael Vincent, Warner Bros., 1977, co-screenplay. Firepower, staring James Coburn. Sophia Loren, Eli Wallach, and O.J. Simpson, ITC, story by. The Rose, staring Bette Midler, Alan Bates, and Frederic Forrest, Columbia, 1978, Academy Award nominations for Midler, Forrest, Best Music, Best Sound, Co-screenplay, sole story by. Dead Men Can't Dance, staring Michael Biehn, Kathleen York, Adrian Paul, and R. Lee Ermey, Live Entertainment, 1997, co-screenplay.
TELEVISION:
Alfred Hitchcock Presents, 2 episodes, produced by Walter Mirsch, teleplay, Method Actor, staring Martin Sheen, directed by Burt Reynolds. Steel Cowboy, movie-of-the-week, CBS, produced by Roger Gimbel for Tomorrow Entertainment, staring James Brolin, Jennifer Warren, Rip Torn, and Melanie Griffith, 1976. Dada is Death, CBS mini-series, Produced by Steve Krantz, directed by Jerry London, staring Julie Christie, Hugo Weaving, and Sarah Jessica Parker, 1989, best teleplay nomination from Australian Film Institute, written-by. Lakota Woman, Siege at Wounded Knee, for Turner Network Television and Fonda Films, directed by Frank Pierson, staring Irene Bedard, Joe Running Fox, Pato Hoffman, Tanto Cardinal, and August Schnelenberg, 1994, winner American Indian Film Festival, winner First Americans in the Arts, winner best TV film and screenplay by the National Cowboy Hall of Fame, nominee Humanitas Award for best teleplay. Shake Rattle and Roll, CBS mini-series, part 2, co-teleplay. Little Richard, NBC movie, staring Leon, directed by Robert Townsend, 2000, co-written. On The Beach, Showtime, staring Armand Assante, Rachel Ward, and Blair Brown, directed by Russell Mulcahy. 2000, co-teleplay, mini-series nominated for Golden Globe, 2001.
Currently working on The Rose adaptation for a stage musical, 2010.