Josh Greenfeld (27 February 1928 – 11 May 2018) was an American

author An author is the writer of a book, article, play, mostly written work. A broader definition of the word "author" states: "''An author is "the person who originated or gave existence to anything" and whose authorship determines responsibility f ...

and

screenwriter A screenplay writer (also called screenwriter, scriptwriter, scribe or scenarist) is a writer who practices the craft of screenwriting, writing screenplays on which mass media, such as films, television programs and video games, are based. ...

mostly known for his screenplay for the 1974 film ''

Harry and Tonto ''Harry and Tonto'' is a 1974 road movie written by Paul Mazursky and Josh Greenfeld and directed by Mazursky. It features Art Carney as Harry in an Oscar-winning performance. Tonto is his pet cat. Plot Harry Coombes (Art Carney) is an elderly wi ...

'' along with

Paul Mazursky Irwin Lawrence "Paul" Mazursky (April 25, 1930 – June 30, 2014) was an American film director, screenwriter, and actor. Known for his dramatic comedies that often dealt with modern social issues, he was nominated for five Academy Awards: three t ...

, which earned them an

Academy Award The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...

nomination and its star, Art Carney, the Oscar itself for Best Actor. Greenfeld also wrote ''Oh, God! Book II'' and the TV special ''Lovey'' and is the author of several books about his

autistic The autism spectrum, often referred to as just autism or in the context of a professional diagnosis autism spectrum disorder (ASD) or autism spectrum condition (ASC), is a neurodevelopmental condition (or conditions) characterized by difficulti ...

son, Noah Greenfeld. The trilogy, ''A Child Called Noah'', ''A Place for Noah'', and ''A Client Called Noah'', details the effects that Noah's disabilities placed on the Greenfelds and the extraordinary lengths that the family went through to find the very best care available for their son. His wife,

Fumiko Kometani is a Japanese author and artist (painter) and a longtime resident of the United States. Kometani moved to the US in 1960 when she was working as an abstract painter, spending time at the MacDowell Colony in New Hampshire where she met her husban ...

, is a Japanese writer and has won the Akutagawa Prize, Japan's most prestigious literary award; she too wrote about their son and his

developmental disability Developmental disability is a diverse group of chronic conditions, comprising mental or physical impairments that arise before adulthood. Developmental disabilities cause individuals living with them many difficulties in certain areas of life, espe ...

. His older son,

Karl Taro Greenfeld Karl Taro Greenfeld (born 1965) is a journalist, novelist and television writer known primarily for his articles on life in modern Asia and both his fiction and non-fiction in ''The Paris Review''. Biography Born in Kobe, Japan, to a Japanese ...

, a special contributor to ''Portfolio and Details'', wrote his own story of growing up with Noah entitled ''Boy Alone: A Brother's Memoir''. Among Greenfeld's plays are ''Clandestine on the Morning Line'', ''I Have a Dream'', ''The Last Two Jews of Kabul'', ''Whoosh!'', and ''Canal Street''. His novels include ''O for a Master of Magic'', ''The Return of Mr. Hollywood'', and ''What Happened Was This''. In 1968, Greenfeld signed the "

Writers and Editors War Tax Protest Tax resistance, the practice of refusing to pay taxes that are considered unjust, has probably existed ever since rulers began imposing taxes on their subjects. It has been suggested that tax resistance played a significant role in the collapse of ...

" pledge, vowing to refuse tax payments in protest against the Vietnam War."Writers and Editors War Tax Protest". ''New York Post''. January 30, 1968. Greenfeld attended

Brooklyn College Brooklyn College is a public university in Brooklyn, Brooklyn, New York. It is part of the City University of New York system and enrolls about 15,000 undergraduate and 2,800 graduate students on a 35-acre campus. Being New York City's first publ ...

; he received a BA from the

University of Michigan , mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth" , former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821) , budget = $10.3 billion (2021) , endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...

and an MA from

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

References

External links

"Noah's Story: 60 Minutes Classic"
1928 births 2018 deaths 20th-century American dramatists and playwrights American male dramatists and playwrights American male screenwriters 20th-century American memoirists American tax resisters Autism activists Brooklyn College alumni Jewish American dramatists and playwrights Jewish American screenwriters University of Michigan alumni 20th-century American male writers American male non-fiction writers Columbia University alumni 21st-century American Jews {{US-screen-writer-stub