Cooler but still well above normal this week

MPR News helps you turn down the noise and build shared understanding. Turn up your support for this public resource and keep trusted journalism accessible to all. 

Turn Up Your Support

 opened on Broadway. The play landed Gilroy theater's triple crown: a Pulitzer Prize, a Tony Award and a Drama Critics' Circle Award.


Gilroy died on Saturday at age 89. In a statement, his family cited natural causes.

, about a World War II veteran returning home to the Bronx, starred Martin Sheen in the role of Timmy and Irene Dailey and Jack Albertson as his parents.


There are just three characters in the play, all members of the Cleary family: mother Nettie, father John and son Timmy, who finds he's left the battlefields of Europe to become a prisoner of his parents' war of regret and recrimination.

 opened on Broadway. He was nominated for a Tony Award.
"It was the biggest success of my life," Sheen said in a 

Sheen, 75, is the only surviving member of the original cast.

In 2010, Sheen had the chance to do the play again in Los Angeles. This time he played the young veteran's father.

Gilroy came to LA for the production. He told NPR's Ina Jaffe, "I never expected Marty here in Los Angeles playing the father of the son he used to be. It's a joy, it's a joy."

 for the big screen. It starred Sheen, Jack Albertson and Patricia Neal. 

Gilroy served in the Army from 1943 to 1946. He said the play was not a factual representation of what happened when he returned to his family after the war.

Arts and Culture

The Thread® - Books and Literary News

Doreen McCallister

Author

Frank D. Gilroy, who won a Pulitzer Prize, a Tony Award and a Drama Critic's Circle Award for The Subject Was Roses, died on Saturday. The play is about a World War II veteran returning home from war.

Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Frank D. Gilroy dies at 89

Go Deeper.

Like this?

News you can use in your inbox