The popular and widely admired playwright William Gibson of whose The Miracle Worker got awarded died at the very age of 94 years this week. Died in Massachusetts, the Playwright thrilled his audiences and readers with the hopeful story of teaching Helen Keller, a deaf and blind man. The highly liked playwright died last Tuesday was an important representative of Finnerty & Stevens Funeral Home, Great Barrington. The main cause of his death has not been disclosed yet.
“The Miracle Worker” was shown on the television in the year 1957 before the playwright adapted the work into a strong play that later was debuted on the Broadway in year 1959. The play included Anne Bancroft portraying the character of Anne Sullivan, the teacher who helped Keller to communicate. The role of Keller was brilliantly played by the famous Patty Duke.
This very play won about three Tony awards, the highest honor of Broadway, for the categories of the best play, best director Arthur Penn and best actress Bancroft. Also, the 1962 film adaptation with Penn as the director won the Oscar awards for Duke, the supporting actress, Bancroft, the best actress. Gibson and Penn were also nominated in the awards. While this “The Miracle Woker” was among the best known plays by Gibson, this exceptional playwright wrote various other plays as well such as “Two for the Seesaw” that was nominated as the best play.
The playwright also earned the Tony nomination for Golden Boy, a musical that starred Sammy Davis Jr. this native of New York’s play “Golda” that was regarding Golda Meir, the Israeli Prime Minister hit the sour note but its revised version, “Golda’s Balcony” soon became well-known in the year 2003. This famous playwright has also written various novels, poems and short stories like “A Mass for the Dead” and “The Cobweb”. Gibson’s wife, Margaret Brenman Gibson, a renowned teacher, social activist, writer and psychologist also died in the year 2004.
