Hoffman, Richard Lee

Richard Lee Hoffman, the Brooklyn-based theater collector and bookdealer, built a number of literary collections around American and British playwrights over a period of many years.

From the description of Richard Hoffman collection of American and British theater and film scripts, 1958-2006. (University of Delaware Library). WorldCat record id: 495700483

Richard Lee Hoffman, the Brooklyn-based theater collector and bookdealer, built a number of literary collections around American and British playwrights over a period of many years.

Hoffman has said that he entered the United States Army in the 1950s as an actor and left as a writer. His military experience led to an assignment to create a television program titled “Your Army in View,” which consisted of interviews and live drama. After his discharge from the service in 1955, Hoffman taught in the drama department of The City University of New York. During this period he was awarded a Eugene O'Neill fellowship for playwriting. He also seriously began to collect rare books and first editions of contemporary American dramatists, notably the playwrights Eugene O'Neill, Arthur Miller, and Neil Simon. Richard Hoffman’s interest in collecting first editions led to his career as an antiquarian bookdealer.

"Richard Hoffman." Literature Resource Center. http:/galenet.galegroup.com/servlet/LitRC (accessed February 2009).

From the guide to the Richard Hoffman collection of American and British theater and film scripts, 1958–2006, (University of Delaware Library - Special Collections)

"Richard Hoffman." Literature Resource Center. http:/galenet.galegroup.com/servlet/LitRC (accessed January 2010). "Beth Henley." The Mississippi Writers Page. http://www.olemiss.edu/depts/english/ms-writers/dir/henley_beth/ (accessed December 21, 2006). "Elizabeth Becker Henley." Biography Resource Center. http://galenet.group.com/servlet/BioRC (accessed March 30, 2007).

Richard Hoffman, the Brooklyn-based theater collector and book dealer, built a number of literary collections around American playwrights over a period of many years. Hoffman has said that he entered the United States Army in the 1950s as an actor and left as a writer. His military experience led to an assignment to create a television program titled "Your Army in View," which consisted of interviews and live drama. After his discharge from the service in 1955, Hoffman taught in the drama department of The City University of New York. During this period he was awarded a Eugene O'Neill fellowship for playwriting. He also seriously began to collect rare books and first editions of contemporary American dramatists, notably the playwrights Eugene O'Neill, Arthur Miller, and Neil Simon. Richard Hoffman's interest in collecting first editions led to his career as an antiquarian book dealer.

American playwright and screenwriter Beth Henley was born May 8, 1952, in Jackson, Mississippi. An aspiring actress, Henley earned a B.F.A. from Southern Methodist University. Her first play, Am I Blue , was written and produced at SMU in 1973. She joined actor/director Stephen Tobolowsky in Los Angeles in 1976, where they collaborated on the screenplay True Stories .

In 1978 her black comedy, Crimes of the Heart, won the Great American Play Contest sponsored by the Actors Theatre in Louisville, Kentucky. Crimes of the Heart debuted on Broadway at the John Golden Theatre on November 4, 1981, and was later awarded the New York Drama Critics Circle Award for best new American play and the Pulitzer Prize for drama (1981). Henley wrote the screenplay for the movie version which appeared in 1986 and was nominated for an Oscar as best adapted screenplay.

Henley's next play, The Miss Firecracker Contest, was produced in Los Angeles and off-Broadway in New York in 1980. Again Henley adapted the play for the screen; with the movie produced in 1993.

Beth Henley has continued to live in California and write plays, including her latest, Ridiculous Fraud, which played at the McCarter Theatre in June 2006.

From the guide to the Richard Hoffman Beth Henley collection, 1981–1984, (University of Delaware Library - Special Collections)