Lonne Elder III facts for kids

Lonne Elder III (December 26, 1927 – June 11, 1996) was an American actor, playwright, and screenwriter. He was a key African American figure in New York theater. Elder used his writing to bring social and political ideas to the stage. He also wrote scripts for television and movies.

His most famous play, Ceremonies in Dark Old Men, won a Drama Desk Award. It was also nominated for the Pulitzer Prize. This play was about a barber and his family in Harlem. The Negro Ensemble Company produced it in 1969. In 1973, Elder and Suzanne de Passe made history. They were the first African Americans nominated for an Academy Award in writing. Elder was nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay for the movie Sounder.

Early Life and Inspiration

Lonne Elder III was born in Americus, Georgia. He grew up in a very poor family during the Great Depression. Even as a small child, his mother encouraged him to read. Storytelling was always on his mind.

In an interview, he once said he started writing very young. He wrote to express feelings he couldn't say out loud. There was no one he felt he could talk to about those thoughts.

Becoming an Orphan

Sadly, Elder became an orphan at a young age. His aunt and uncle in Jersey City, New Jersey, raised him. They also cared for his four siblings. Elder went to New Jersey State Teachers' College in 1949. But he left before finishing his first year.

He then moved to Harlem in New York City. He took classes and joined the growing civil rights movement. In 1952, Elder joined the United States Army. He served for two years.

A Career in Theater and Film

Acting, Writing, and A Raisin in the Sun

After leaving the army, Elder became very involved in Harlem's literary world. Poets like Robert Hayden and Langston Hughes encouraged him. He started to improve his writing skills. Elder also worked as an actor.

He got a role in the original Broadway play A Raisin in the Sun in 1959. This play was written by Lorraine Hansberry. Being friends with playwright Douglas Turner Ward and working with Hansberry inspired Elder. He decided he wanted to become a playwright himself.

Early Plays and Marriage

Sharing an apartment with Ward also helped Elder write his first play. It was called A Hysterical Turtle in a Rabbit Race (1961). This play showed Elder's main theme. He often wrote about black families facing challenges in America.

Elder married Betty Gross in 1963. They had a son, David Dubois Elder. But they divorced four years later. He continued to act and work odd jobs. In 1965, he appeared in Ward's play Day of Absence.

Ceremonies in Dark Old Men and Success

In 1965, Elder's play Ceremonies in Dark Old Men had a reading. This reading helped him get a fellowship at Yale University School of Drama. He also won several financial awards. His one-act play, Charades on East Fourth Street, was performed at Expo ’67 in Montreal. This play showed a conflict between a community and the police.

From 1967 to 1969, Elder directed the playwrights’ division. This was for the new Negro Ensemble Company. When the company started its first season in 1969, Ceremonies in Dark Old Men was chosen for production.

A Meaningful Play

Ceremonies in Dark Old Men became a very important play of the late 1960s. It showed Elder’s thoughts on the black family in a difficult American society. Critics loved the play. Edith Oliver from The New Yorker called it one of the finest American plays. James Baldwin praised it as "the most truthful play" he had seen.

Ceremonies received many positive reviews and awards. It was the runner-up for the 1969 Pulitzer Prize in drama. The play is about a Harlem family in the 1950s. The father, Russell B. Parker, is a barber. He dreams of his past as a vaudeville dancer. His two sons are unemployed and get into trouble. His daughter supports the family, but she resents it.

Elder said he wrote from his "guts and heart." He wanted to make people wonder. He didn't directly complain about racism. Instead, he showed how it was always present in their lives. By 1985, the New York Times called the play a "contemporary classic." Later productions helped launch the careers of actors like Denzel Washington and Laurence Fishburne. Ceremonies greatly influenced other works. It became a blueprint for telling black American family stories.

Sounder and Hollywood Writing

Elder married actress Judyann Elder in 1969. They had a son named Christian. He moved his family to Los Angeles. There, he pursued a growing career writing for television. His first movie job was adapting William H. Armstrong's novel Sounder. The acclaimed director Martin Ritt directed the film.

The movie was about a poor family of sharecroppers in the Great Depression. It became an instant success. Film critic Pauline Kael praised Elder's "scrupulous, unsentimental script." She said the movie earned every emotion the audience felt. Sounder received four nominations at the 45th Academy Awards. This included Best Adapted Screenplay. Elder was the first African-American male to get this honor. He later wrote the sequel.

More Film and TV Work

During the "blaxploitation" era, Elder wrote Melinda. This was a challenging crime drama. It starred actors Calvin Lockhart and Rosalind Cash. In 1980, Elder and Judyann had a daughter, Loni-Christine.

The next year, Elder worked with Richard Pryor. They wrote the screenplay for Bustin' Loose. This was a funny story about an ex-felon. He finds purpose by driving handicapped children to a farm. Elder also wrote A Woman Called Moses. This was a TV mini-series about the life of Harriet Tubman. It reunited him with Cicely Tyson. A Woman Called Moses earned Elder a Writers Guild of America Award. He also won his second Christopher Award for it.

Later Years and Legacy

In the 1980s, Elder became unhappy with Hollywood. He felt that studios were not giving him important work. He believed this was because he tried to change how black people were shown in films. He told Washington Post that they "decided they were going to teach me a lesson."

Elder returned to the theater. He brought Splendid Mummer to The American Place Theater in New York. This was a one-man play starring Charles S. Dutton. It was about Ira Frederick Aldridge, the first African-American Shakespearean actor. Splendid Mummer was revived in London in 2007. In 1990, he helped rewrite the musical King. This musical was about the life of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr..

Lonne Elder III passed away in Woodland Hills, California, on June 11, 1996. He died after a long illness.

Works

Poetry

• 1957: Scenes in the City (edited by Langston Hughes) A Modern Jazz Symposium of Music and Poetry

Plays

• 1961: A Hysterical Rabbit in a Turtle Race
• 1966: Kissing Rattlesnakes Can Be Fun
• 1966: Seven Comes Up and Seven Comes Down
• 1967: Charades on East Fourth Street
• 1969: Ceremonies in Dark Old Men
• 1988: Splendid Mummer

Musicals

• 1990: King (Book)

Film

• 1972: Sounder
• 1973: Melinda - Lt. Daniels
• 1976: Part 2, Sounder
• 1981: Bustin' Loose (with Richard Pryor and Roger L. Simon)

Television

• 1955: Camera Three
• 1968: N.Y.P.D. (series): "Deadly Circle of Violence"
• 1970—1971: McCloud (series)
• 1973: Toma (series): "Blockhouse Breakdown"
• 1975: Ceremonies in Dark Old Men (TV movie)
• 1978: A Woman Called Moses (mini-series)
• 1982: Thou Shalt Not Kill (TV movie)
• 1989: Runaway (TV movie)
• 1992: I'll Fly Away (series): "The Third Man"

Acting Filmography

• 1970: Soul! (TV series) (as himself)
• 1972: Pomroy's People (TV movie)
• 1973: Melinda (as Lt. Daniels)

Honors and Awards

• Pulitzer Prize for Drama nomination (1969) – Ceremonies in Dark Old Men
• Best Adapted Screenplay (1973) Academy Award nomination – Sounder
• The Stanley Drama Award – Ceremonies in Dark Old Men
• The USC Film Conference Award of Merit
• The Atlanta Film Festival Silver Award
• The Outer Critics Circle Award for Drama – Ceremonies in Dark Old Men
• The Vernon Rice/Drama Desk Award – Ceremonies in Dark Old Men
• The Stella Holt Memorial Playwrights Award – Ceremonies in Dark Old Men
• The Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Award – Ceremonies in Dark Old Men
• The Christopher Award – Sounder, A Woman Called Moses
• Black Filmmakers Hall of Fame Award (1979)
• The Writers Guild of America Award – A Woman Called Moses
• The America Historical Society Award
• The NAACP Image Award (1981) – Bustin' Loose