William D. Wittliff facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
William D. Wittliff
|
|
|---|---|
Wittliff at the 2014 Texas Book Festival
|
|
| Born | January 21, 1940 Taft, Texas, U.S.
|
| Died | June 9, 2019 (aged 79) Austin, Texas, U.S.
|
| Alma mater | University of Texas at Austin |
| Occupation | Screenwriter, photographer |
| Years active | 1964 – 2019 |
William Dale Wittliff (January 21, 1940 – June 9, 2019), often called Bill Wittliff, was an American screenwriter, author, and photographer. He was well-known for writing movie scripts, including The Perfect Storm (2000), Barbarosa (1982), and Raggedy Man (1981). Bill Wittliff also wrote books and took many famous photographs.
Contents
Bill Wittliff's Early Life
Bill Wittliff was born in Taft, Texas, on January 21, 1940. When he was a teenager, his family moved to Blanco. He later studied journalism at the University of Texas at Austin.
After college, he worked for a publishing company in Austin. He also managed the business and production for the Southern Methodist University Press in Dallas.
Starting His Own Publishing Company
In 1964, Bill Wittliff decided to start his own publishing company called Encino Press. This company published many books. The last book released by Encino Press was Blue & Some Other Dogs by John Graves in 1981.
Bill Wittliff's Career in Film
Bill Wittliff wrote the script for the movie Country (1984). He was supposed to direct this film, which would have been his first time directing. However, he left the project after the person filming the movie was replaced.
Working with Willie Nelson
In the late 1970s, Bill Wittliff met the famous musician Willie Nelson. Wittliff became a writer for two movies starring Nelson: Honeysuckle Rose (1980) and Barbarosa (1982).
Wittliff agreed to write a movie script based on Willie Nelson's album Red Headed Stranger (1975). He finished the first version of the script in 1979. A movie studio, Universal Studios, agreed to make the film with a budget of $14 million.
The studio wanted a different actor, Robert Redford, to play the main character, the Red Headed Stranger. But Willie Nelson had always imagined playing that role himself. Robert Redford turned down the part. So, Nelson and Wittliff returned the money they had received to buy the script back. Wittliff then directed and helped produce the movie Red Headed Stranger (1986) with Willie Nelson.
Awards for Screenwriting
Bill Wittliff wrote the scripts for the very popular Lonesome Dove miniseries (1989). For his work on this series, he won a Writers Guild of America Award in 1990. He also received a Bronze Wrangler award from the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum.
In 1995, he won another Bronze Wrangler award for the movie Legends of the Fall (1994). The Austin Film Festival also honored him with their Distinguished Screenwriter Award in 1996.
The Wittliff Collections
In 1986, Bill Wittliff started the Southwest Writers Collection at Texas State University. This collection gathered important works by authors and songwriters from Texas and the American Southwest.
Ten years later, in 1996, he also founded the Wittliff Collection of Southwestern and Mexican Photography at the same university. These collections, now known as the Wittliff Collections, have grown a lot. They are now one of the biggest archives of materials from the Southwestern United States.
Two very important parts of the Wittliff Collections are the papers of famous writers Cormac McCarthy and Sandra Cisneros. The archive also has an exhibit with items from the Lonesome Dove miniseries.
Bill Wittliff as a Photographer
Besides writing, Bill Wittliff was also a very talented photographer. His photographs have been featured in several books. These include Vaquero: Genesis of the Texas Cowboy (2004), La Vida Brinca (2006), and A Book of Photographs from Lonesome Dove (2007).
Bill Wittliff's Personal Life
In 2001, Bill Wittliff was recognized for his contributions to film and was inducted into the Texas Film Hall of Fame. He was also a member of the Kappa Sigma fraternity at the University of Texas. In 2012, he was named the fraternity's "Man of the Year."
In 2014, Bill Wittliff and his wife, Sally Wittliff, who is a lawyer in Austin, Texas, were given honorary doctor of letters degrees by Texas State University.
Bill Wittliff passed away on June 9, 2019, in Austin. He was 79 years old.
