Mark Dawidziak (born September 7, 1956) is 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

critic A critic is a person who communicates an assessment and an opinion of various forms of creative works such as art, literature, music, cinema, theater, fashion, architecture, and food. Critics may also take as their subject social or governmen ...

Early life

Dawidziak was born in

Huntington, New York The Town of Huntington is one of ten towns in Suffolk County, New York. Founded in 1653, it is located on the north shore of Long Island in northwestern Suffolk County, with Long Island Sound to its north and Nassau County adjacent to the west. ...

, on September 7, 1956. He is a graduate of

Harborfields High School Harborfields High School is a four-year secondary school located in Greenlawn, New York, United States. It functions as the sole high school for Harborfields Central School District, encompassing the communities of Centerport and Greenlawn alo ...

, class of 1974.

Journalism career

A journalism graduate of

George Washington University , mottoeng = "God is Our Trust" , established = , type = Private federally chartered research university , academic_affiliations = , endowment = $2.8 billion (2022) , preside ...

, Dawidziak has worked as a theater, film and television critic since 1979. He started his journalism career in the Washington, D.C. bureaus of Knight-Ridder Newspapers and the Associated Press. In 1983, after stints as the arts and entertainment editor at the ''Bristol Herald-Courier'' in

Bristol, Virginia Bristol is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia. As of the 2020 census, the population was 17,219. It is the twin city of Bristol, Tennessee, just across the state line, which runs down the middle of its main street, State S ...

and the ''Kingsport Times-Times'' in

Kingsport, Tennessee Kingsport is a city in Sullivan and Hawkins counties in the U.S. state of Tennessee. As of the 2020 census, its population was 55,442. Lying along the Holston River, Kingsport is commonly included in what is known as the Mountain Empire, w ...

, he moved to the ''

Akron Beacon Journal The ''Akron Beacon Journal'' is a morning newspaper in Akron, Ohio, United States. Owned by Gannett, it is the sole daily newspaper in Akron and is distributed throughout Northeast Ohio. The paper's coverage focuses on local news. The Beacon J ...

'' in

Akron, Ohio Akron () is the fifth-largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio and is the county seat of Summit County, Ohio, Summit County. It is located on the western edge of the Glaciated Allegheny Plateau, about south of downtown Cleveland. As of the 2020 C ...

as that newspaper's

TV critic Television criticism is the act of writing or speaking about television programming to evaluate its worth, meaning, and other aspects. Such criticism can be found in daily newspapers, on culture discussion shows (on TV and radio), and in specialis ...

(later becoming its film critic). He currently is the

television critic Television criticism is the act of writing or speaking about television programming to evaluate its worth, meaning, and other aspects. Such criticism can be found in daily newspapers, on culture discussion shows (on TV and radio), and in specialis ...

for ''

The Plain Dealer ''The Plain Dealer'' is the major newspaper of Cleveland, Ohio, United States. In fall 2019, it ranked 23rd in U.S. newspaper circulation, a significant drop since March 2013, when its circulation ranked 17th daily and 15th on Sunday. As of Ma ...

'' in

Cleveland Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U.S. ...

Ohio Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...

Television histories

Dawidziak has written two non-fiction books about TV characters: ''The Columbo Phile: A Casebook'' (The Mysterious Press, 1989), a history of

Peter Falk Peter Michael Falk (September 16, 1927 – June 23, 2011) was an American film and television actor. He is best known for his role as Lieutenant Columbo in the long-running television series ''Columbo'' (1968–1978, 1989–2003), for which he ...

's Lt.

Columbo ''Columbo'' () is an American crime drama television series starring Peter Falk as Lieutenant Columbo, a homicide detective with the Los Angeles Police Department. After two pilot episodes in 1968 and 1971, the show originally aired on NBC f ...

, and ''The Night Stalker Companion: A 30th Anniversary Tribute'' (Pomegranate Press, 1997), a history of the

Carl Kolchak ''Kolchak: The Night Stalker'' is an American television series that aired on ABC during the 1974–1975 season. The series followed wire service reporter Carl Kolchak ( Darren McGavin) who investigates mysterious crimes with unlikely causes, p ...

character played by

Darren McGavin Darren is a masculine given name of uncertain etymological origins. Some theories state that it originated from an Anglicisation of the Irish first name Darragh or Dáire, meaning "Oak Tree". According to other sources, it is thought to come from ...

in two TV movies and the 1974-75 ABC series. His 2003 book, ''Horton Foote's The Shape of the River: The Lost Teleplay About Mark Twain'' (Applause Books) details the 1960 ''

Playhouse 90 ''Playhouse 90'' was an American television anthology series, anthology drama series that aired on CBS from 1956 to 1960 for a total of 133 episodes. The show was produced at CBS Television City in Los Angeles, California. Since live anthology dr ...

'' production on CBS.

Mark Twain studies

In addition to ''Horton Foote's The Shape of the River: The Lost Teleplay About Mark Twain'' (Applause Books, 2003), he assembled Mark Twain's thoughts on writing and the writing process for ''Mark My Words: Mark Twain on Writing'' (St. Martin's Press, 1996). He also teamed with noted Twain scholar R. Kent Rasmussen for the chapter ''Mark Twain on the Screen'' published in ''A Companion to Mark Twain'' (Blackwell Publishing, 2005, edited by Peter Messent and Louis J. Budd). He has twice been the visiting Twain scholar giving the ''Trouble Begins at Eight''lecture at

Elmira College Elmira College is a private college in Elmira, New York. Founded as a college for women in 1855, it is the oldest existing college granting degrees to women that were the equivalent of those given to men. Elmira College became coeducational in a ...

's Center for Mark Twain Studies. He has presented academic papers at four consecutive State of Mark Twain Studies conferences (held every four years in August at Elmira College): on ''The Shape of the River'' in 2001; on the many similarities between Twain and Charles Dickens in 2005; on the importance of

Hal Holbrook Harold Rowe Holbrook Jr. (February 17, 1925 – January 23, 2021) was an American actor, television director, and screenwriter. He first received critical acclaim in 1954 for a one-man stage show that he developed called ''Mark Twain Tonight!'' ...

's one-man show, ''

Mark Twain Tonight! ''Mark Twain Tonight!'' is a one-man play devised by Hal Holbrook, in which he depicted Mark Twain giving a dramatic recitation selected from several of Twain's writings, with an emphasis on the comic ones. Background The recitation's genesis was ...

'', in 2009; and on director-producer

Will Vinton William Gale Vinton (November 17, 1947 – October 4, 2018) was an American animator and filmmaker. Vinton was best known for his Claymation work, alongside creating iconic characters such as The California Raisins. He won an Oscar for his wor ...

's Claymation film '' The Adventures of Mark Twain'' in 2013.

Jim Tully

Dawidziak and Paul J. Bauer are the authors of the first full-length biography of writer Jim Tully. Titled ''Jim Tully: American Writer, Irish Rover, Hollywood Brawler'', it was published by Kent State University Press in 2011 with a foreword by

Ken Burns Kenneth Lauren Burns (born July 29, 1953) is an American filmmaker known for his documentary film, documentary films and television series, many of which chronicle United States, American History of the United States, history and Culture of the ...

Horror

In addition to writing two non-fiction books about the Carl Kolchak character – ''Night Stalking: A 20th Anniversary Kolchak Companion'' (Image, 1991) and ''The Night Stalker Companion: A 30th Anniversary Tribute'' (Pomegranate Press, 1997), Dawidziak has edited three collections of works by

Richard Matheson Richard Burton Matheson (February 20, 1926 – June 23, 2013) was an American author and screenwriter, primarily in the fantasy, horror, and science fiction genres. He is best known as the author of '' I Am Legend'', a 1954 science ficti ...

, all published by Gauntlet Press: ''Richard Matheson's Kolchak Scripts'' (2003), ''Bloodlines: Richard Matheson's Dracula, I Am Legend, and Other Vampires Stories'' (2006) and ''Richard Matheson's Censored and Unproduced I Am Legend Screenplay'' (2012). His work in the horror field includes a 1994 novel (''The Kolchak Papers: Grave Secrets''), a play (''The Tell-Tale Play''), short stories, comic book scripts and the non-fiction book ''The Bedside, Bathtub and Armchair Companion to Dracula'' (Continuum, 2008).

Acting on stage

Dawidziak met his wife, actress Sara Showman, through the stage. In 2002, they founded the Largely Literary Theater Company, a touring troupe dedicated to promoting literacy, literature and live theater. The company's artistic director, he frequently appears in Largely Literary productions as

Mark Twain Samuel Langhorne Clemens (November 30, 1835 – April 21, 1910), known by his pen name Mark Twain, was an American writer, humorist, entrepreneur, publisher, and lecturer. He was praised as the "greatest humorist the United States has p ...

and

Charles Dickens Charles John Huffam Dickens (; 7 February 1812 – 9 June 1870) was an English writer and social critic. He created some of the world's best-known fictional characters and is regarded by many as the greatest novelist of the Victorian e ...

. His two-act adaptation of Twain material, ''Twain By Three,'' was performed at the 103rd Annual International

Dickens Fellowship The Dickens Fellowship was founded in 1902, and is an international association of people from all walks of life who share an interest in the life and works of Victorian era novelist Charles Dickens. The Dickens Fellowship's head office is based ...

Conference (held at

Case Western Reserve University Case Western Reserve University (CWRU) is a private research university in Cleveland, Ohio. Case Western Reserve was established in 1967, when Western Reserve University, founded in 1826 and named for its location in the Connecticut Western Reser ...

Cleveland, Ohio Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U.S. ...

). His play ''The Mystery of Dashiell Hammett'' was premiered as part of Big Read initiative at

Hiram College Hiram College ( ) is a private liberal arts college in Hiram, Ohio. It was founded in 1850 as the Western Reserve Eclectic Institute by Amos Sutton Hayden and other members of the Disciples of Christ Church. The college is nonsectarian and coe ...

in 2009. His other plays include a two-act adaptation of Dickens' ''A Christmas Carol'' for three actors.

Series of lectures

Dawidziak is currently teaching part-time as an adjunct professor at

Kent State University Kent State University (KSU) is a public research university in Kent, Ohio. The university also includes seven regional campuses in Northeast Ohio and additional facilities in the region and internationally. Regional campuses are located in As ...

, in addition to writing for ''The Plain Dealer''. He teaches the Reviewing Film and Television and Vampires in Film and Television courses. His first class was in the spring of 2009. He frequently lectures and gives talks on Mark Twain, Charles Dickens, television and vampires. On October 23, 2009, Dawidziak appeared at the

Kent Stage The Kent Stage is a 642-seat theater that was built in 1927 in Kent, Ohio, United States. Since 2002, it has been used as a performance venue for music, plays and film. History In 1927, it opened as the Flannigan and Steele Theater, a movie theate ...

, in Kent, Ohio, with the lecture "Haunted Theaters, Dracula & Me".

References

External links

Profile at ''The Plain Dealer''NPR interview
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dawidziak, Mark 1956 births Living people People from Huntington, New York Writers from New York (state) American film critics American television critics People from Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio Writers from Ohio Columbian College of Arts and Sciences alumni Journalists from Ohio