Marvin Neil Simon was an American playwright, screenwriter and author. He wrote more than 30 plays and nearly the same number of movie screenplays, mostly adaptations of his plays. He received more combined Oscar and Tony nominations than any other writer.
James Harrison Coburn III was an American actor. He featured in more than 70 films, largely action roles, and made 100 television appearances during a 45-year career, ultimately winning an Academy Award in 1999 for his supporting role as Glen Whitehouse in Affliction.
Joseph John Pulitzer was a newspaper publisher of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and the New York World. He became a leading national figure in the Democratic Party and was elected congressman from New York. He crusaded against big business and corruption, and helped keep the Statue of Liberty in New York.
William Stanley Merwin was an American poet who wrote over fifty books of poetry and prose, and produced many works in translation. During the 1960s anti-war movement, Merwin's unique craft was thematically characterized by indirect, unpunctuated narration. In the 1980s and 1990s, his writing influence derived from an interest in Buddhist philosophy and deep ecology. Residing in a rural part of Maui, Hawaii, he wrote prolifically and was dedicated to the restoration of the island's rainforests.
Clarence Page is an American journalist, syndicated columnist, and senior member of the Chicago Tribune editorial board.
John Marley was an American actor who was known for his role as Phil Cavalleri in Love Story and as Jack Woltz— the defiant film mogul who awakens to find the severed head of his prized horse in his bed—in The Godfather (1972). He starred in John Cassavetes' feature Faces (1968) and appeared in The Glitter Dome (1984).
William De Witt Snodgrass was an American poet who also wrote under the pseudonym S. S. Gardons. He won the 1960 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry.
Carl Neumann Degler was a United States historian and Pulitzer Prize-winning author. He was the Margaret Byrne Professor of American History Emeritus at Stanford University.
Oscar Jerome Hijuelos was an American novelist of Cuban descent. During a year-long convalescence from a childhood illness spent in a Connecticut hospital he lost his knowledge of Spanish, his parents' native language. He was educated in New York City, and wrote short stories and advertising copy.
The following are the Pulitzer Prizes for 1978.
Howard Oliver Sackler, was an American screenwriter and playwright who is best known for writing The Great White Hope. The Great White Hope enjoyed both a successful run on Broadway and, as a film adaptation, in movie theaters. James Earl Jones and Jane Alexander both starred in the original Arena Stage production of the play in Washington, DC, then brought their roles to Broadway and later to the film version. Both Jones and Alexander received Academy Award nominations for their work in the movie.
Tracy S. Letts is an American actor, playwright and screenwriter. He received the 2008 Pulitzer Prize for Drama for his play August: Osage County and a Tony Award for his portrayal of George in the revival of Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (2013).
Ketti Frings was an American author, playwright, and screenwriter who won a Pulitzer Prize in 1958.
Frank Daniel Gilroy was an American playwright, screenwriter, and film producer and director. He received the Tony Award for Best Play and the Pulitzer Prize for Drama for his play The Subject Was Roses in 1965.
William "Bill" Tuohy was a journalist and author who, for most of his career, was a foreign correspondent for the Los Angeles Times.
William Anthony Caldwell was an American journalist and columnist who spent 48 years at The Record of Bergen County, New Jersey. He won the 1971 Pulitzer Prize for Commentary.
Edward Daniel Kuekes was an American editorial cartoonist. Working for the Cleveland, Ohio Plain Dealer, he won the 1953 Pulitzer Prize for Editorial Cartooning.
Colin Woodard is an American journalist and writer, best known for his books American Nations: A History of the Eleven Rival Regional Cultures of North America (2011), The Republic of Pirates (2007), and The Lobster Coast (2004), a cultural and environmental history of coastal Maine.
