William Hartwell Snyder, Jr. (30 August 1929 – 12 March 2008) was an American playwright and a longtime faculty member of the

theatre Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actors or actresses, to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a stage. The perform ...

department at the

University of Tennessee at Martin The University of Tennessee at Martin (UT Martin or UTM) is a public university in Martin, Tennessee. It is one of the five campuses of the University of Tennessee system. UTM is the only public university in West Tennessee outside of Memphi ...

. He is best known for his play ''

The Days and Nights of BeeBee Fenstermaker ''The Days and Nights of BeeBee Fenstermaker'' is an American play by William Snyder. The work premiered Off-Broadway at the Sheridan Square Playhouse on September 17, 1962, closing on June 9, 1963 after 304 performances. The production was dire ...

''.

Biography

Snyder attended

Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Sta ...

's School of Drama where he earned a master of fine arts degree in playwrighting. While there the school mounted a production of his play ''A True And Special Friend'' in 1956 with a cast including

Jonathan Frid Jonathan Frid (December 2, 1924 – April 14, 2012) was a Canadian actor, best known for his role as vampire Barnabas Collins on the gothic television soap opera ''Dark Shadows''. Biography Early life and career Frid was born of Scottish ...

.Belknap Playbill and Program Collection
/ref> In 1962 Snyder's play ''The Days and Nights of BeeBee Fenstermaker'' premiered Off-Broadway at the

Sheridan Square Playhouse The Sheridan Square Playhouse was an Off-Broadway theatre in New York City that was active from 1958 through the early 1990s. Closed as a theatre in 1996, the theatre was located at 99 7th Avenue South in Greenwich Village. History Prior to being ...

with

Rose Gregorio Rose Gregorio (born October 17, 1934) is an American actress. She began her career appearing mostly in theatre in Chicago and New York City during the 1950s and 1960s. During the 1970s she became more active in television and film, appearing most ...

in the title role and

Robert Duvall Robert Selden Duvall (; born January 5, 1931) is an American actor and filmmaker. His career spans more than seven decades and he is considered one of the greatest American actors of all time. He is the recipient of an Academy Award, four Gold ...

as Bob Smith. Received with critical praise, the play ran for a total of 304 performances. The work was later adapted by Snyder into two television films, one in English for British ATV drama with

Patricia Neal Patricia Neal (born Patsy Louise Neal, January 20, 1926 – August 8, 2010) was an American actress of stage and screen. A major star of the 1950s and 1960s, she was the recipient of an Academy Award, a Golden Globe Award, a Tony Award, and two ...

as BeeBee and one in German for German television with

Loni von Friedl Loni von Friedl (born 1943) is an Austrian film and television actress.Bock & Bergfelder p. 268 She began as a child actress in the early 1950s, before graduating to mature roles during the following decade. The daughter of cinematographer ...

in the title role. Also in 1962, Snyder produced

Garson Kanin Garson Kanin (November 24, 1912 – March 13, 1999) was an American writer and director of plays and films. Early life Garson Kanin was born in Rochester, New York; his family later relocated to Detroit then to New York City. He attended ...

's play ''

A Gift of Time A, or a, is the first letter and the first vowel of the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''a'' (pronounced ), plural ''aes' ...

'' for its debut on

Broadway Broadway may refer to: Theatre * Broadway Theatre (disambiguation) * Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S. ** Broadway (Manhattan), the street **Broadway Theatre (53rd Stree ...

at the

Ethel Barrymore Theatre The Ethel Barrymore Theatre is a Broadway theater at 241 West 47th Street in the Theater District of Midtown Manhattan in New York City. Opened in 1928, it was designed by Herbert J. Krapp in the Elizabethan, Mediterranean, and Adam styles ...

where it ran for 94 performances. The cast notably included

Olivia de Havilland Dame Olivia Mary de Havilland (; July 1, 1916July 26, 2020) was a British-American actress. The major works of her cinematic career spanned from 1935 to 1988. She appeared in 49 feature films and was one of the leading actresses of her time. ...

Henry Fonda Henry Jaynes Fonda (May 16, 1905 – August 12, 1982) was an American actor. He had a career that spanned five decades on Broadway and in Hollywood. He cultivated an everyman screen image in several films considered to be classics. Born and ra ...

, and

Joseph Campanella Joseph Anthony Campanella (November 21, 1924 – May 16, 2018) was an American character actor. He appeared in more than 200 television and film roles from the early 1950s to 2009. Campanella was best remembered for his roles as Joe Turino on ' ...

; the latter of which garnered a

Tony Award The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Broadway Theatre, more commonly known as the Tony Award, recognizes excellence in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual ce ...

nomination for his performance in the play. In 1964 Snyder joined the faculty at the University of Tennessee at Martin. He taught a variety of theatre subjects including acting, playwrighting, and directing during his thirty two years at the University. For most of his tenure at the University he was director of the UT Martin Vanguard Theatre; notably directing somewhere between 150-200 productions at the University during his career. In 1990 he was awarded the highest honor bestowed on faculty members by the University, the University of Tennessee National Alumni Association Distinguished Professor award. After his retirement in 1996 he moved to

Oregon Oregon () is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of its eastern boundary with Idaho. T ...

. He died twelve years later at the age of 78 due to complications from Alzheimer's disease.

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Snyder, William Hartwell 1930 births 2008 deaths 20th-century American dramatists and playwrights University of Tennessee at Martin faculty Yale School of Drama alumni Writers from Oregon American male dramatists and playwrights 20th-century American male writers