Herb Gardner, a Tony-winning playwright, died on Sept. 24 from lung cancer. He was 68.
Born in Brooklyn, Gardner attended the Carnegie Institute of Technology and Antioch College. Although he wanted to be a sculptor, he spent the late 1950s drawing “The Nebbishes,” a comic strip that was syndicated in 60 newspapers.
His first Broadway success was the 1962 play, “A Thousand Clowns,” which starred Jason Robards and Sandy Dennis. It was later made into a movie of the same name starring Robards and Barbara Harris.
Several more plays followed, including “The Goodbye People” and “Thieves.” Then in 1986, Gardner achieved his greatest commercial success with “I’m Not Rappaport,” starring Judd Hirsch and Cleavon Little. The show won the Tony Award that year for Best Play. Gardner scored another hit in 1992 when his play, “Conversations With My Father,” earned Hirsch a Tony for Best Actor.
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