Playwright. He authored two of the most successful Broadway plays of all-time. Raised with little formal education, he taught himself from local libraries. Orphaned at 10, he lived as a hobo on a succession of odd jobs such as construction worker, cook, and merchant sailor...he moved to Los Angeles and made his career in the theater from around 19. Initially a self-trained lighting designer, he expanded into directing and writing, originally with the Katherine Dunham Company, a Black repertory group that toured the United States and Europe. In New York during the 1950s, he wrote the first of around 75 television dramas, sharing an Emmy for the 1955 "Elisha and the Long Knives". In 1963, he adapted Ken Kesey's 1962 novel "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" for the Broadway stage, though he did not write the script for the later movie. His greatest success came with the 1965 "Man of La Mancha", for which he won a Tony Award, and which became one of the longest running Broadway musicals. It closed in 1971, but is continually in revival all over the world. An adaptation of Cervantes' classic 1605 novel "Don Quixote", the play's central character, as Mr. Wasserman stated he tried to construct him, is Miguel de Cervantes himself, rather than Don Quixote. He said at the time that Quixote had already been adapted 400 times, all of them failures, and he wished to try something different. Mr. Wasserman was the recipient of three honorary degrees, and, in 2003, published "The Impossible Musical: The Man of La Mancha Story". He was still writing at the time of his death. His birth year is sometimes given as 1917, though original records have confirmed the earlier date.
Playwright. He authored two of the most successful Broadway plays of all-time. Raised with little formal education, he taught himself from local libraries. Orphaned at 10, he lived as a hobo on a succession of odd jobs such as construction worker, cook, and merchant sailor...he moved to Los Angeles and made his career in the theater from around 19. Initially a self-trained lighting designer, he expanded into directing and writing, originally with the Katherine Dunham Company, a Black repertory group that toured the United States and Europe. In New York during the 1950s, he wrote the first of around 75 television dramas, sharing an Emmy for the 1955 "Elisha and the Long Knives". In 1963, he adapted Ken Kesey's 1962 novel "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" for the Broadway stage, though he did not write the script for the later movie. His greatest success came with the 1965 "Man of La Mancha", for which he won a Tony Award, and which became one of the longest running Broadway musicals. It closed in 1971, but is continually in revival all over the world. An adaptation of Cervantes' classic 1605 novel "Don Quixote", the play's central character, as Mr. Wasserman stated he tried to construct him, is Miguel de Cervantes himself, rather than Don Quixote. He said at the time that Quixote had already been adapted 400 times, all of them failures, and he wished to try something different. Mr. Wasserman was the recipient of three honorary degrees, and, in 2003, published "The Impossible Musical: The Man of La Mancha Story". He was still writing at the time of his death. His birth year is sometimes given as 1917, though original records have confirmed the earlier date.
Bio by: Bob Hufford
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