D.L. Coburn, Pulitzer Prize-Winning Playwright of The Gin Game, Dies at 87

D.L. Coburn, Pulitzer Prize-Winning Playwright of The Gin Game, Dies at 87

D.L. Coburn, the Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright whose debut play The Gin Game became an enduring work that is still widely produced, died of colon cancer on December 3 in Dallas, Texas. He was 87. Born Donald Lee Coburn on August 4, 1938 in Baltimore, Coburn did not follow a traditional path to the theater. After graduating from high school, he served in the U.S. Navy and later worked as an advertising copywriter. He eventually opened his own…

D.L. Coburn, Playwright of The Gin Game, Dies at 87

He was in his late 30s when he wrote the play, his first. It premiered in Los Angeles in 1976; it reached Broadway the following year, directed by Mike Nichols and starring Jessica Tandy and Hume Cronyn, and ran for over 500 performances, winning Tandy a Tony and Coburn himself a Pulitzer. – TheaterMania