Gregory Allen Howard, the first African American screenwriter for a $100 million drama with Remember The Titans, died today in Miami after a brief illness, his publicist said. He was 70. Howard also was the only African American screenwriter to write a spec script that became a $100 million movie for Remember the Titans, which starred Denzel Washington and was produced by Top Gun‘s Jerry Bruckheimer.
According to Deadline, “His credits included Ali, starring Will Smith and Jamie Foxx, directed by Michael Mannas, which was the biopic of “The Greatest,” boxer Muhammad Ali. he also wrote the award-winning stage play Tinseltown Trilogy. In addition, Howard was a two-time winner of the NAACP Image Awards and won the Christopher Award, the Howard University Paul Robeson Award for artistic excellence, and the Heartland Film Festival Award for screenwriting excellence.”
His stage production of Tinseltown Trilogy, directed by Emmy-winner Ted Lange, told the stories of three men in Los Angeles over Christmas week as their stories interconnect and are influenced by each other.
While he was born in Norfolk, Virginia, Howard and his family often relocated as a child before settling in Vallejo, California. He went on to graduate from Princeton university with a degree in American History, which served him no doubt in influencing his many historically-focused films. After leaving Los Angeles to return to his native Virginia, Howard learned the story of the 1971 TC Williams High School football team, the Titans. Howard, who played offensive linemen on his high school and college football teams, was inspired by the unique story of the integration of the championship high school football team that people in the town of Alexandria, Virginia, credited for the town’s positive race relations. This would go on to inspire what many consider to be his magnum Opus “Remember The Titans.”
He is survived by his sister, Lynette Henley, and brother, Michael Henley (Denise), nieces Robyn Bacon (Rachael Martin) and Valencia Kamara (O.Z.), and nephew, Robert Henley, as well as by his beloved grandniece and two grandnephews, and cousins Pierre Gatling and the Honorable Patricia Cole.
Leave a Comment