Screenwriter Gregory Allen Howard, who skillfully adapted stories of historical Black figures in Remember the Titans┬аstarring Denzel Washington, Ali┬аwith Will Smith and Harriet┬аwith Cynthia Erivo, has died. He was 70.
Howard died Friday at his home in Miami after a brief illness, according to a statement from publicist Jeff Sanderson.
Howard was the first Black screenwriter to write a drama that made $100 million US at the box office when Titans┬аcrossed that milestone in 2000. It was about a real-life Black coach coming into a newly integrated Virginia school and helping lead their football team to victory.
It had the iconic line: “I don’t care if you like each other or not. But you will respect each other.”
Howard said he shopped the story around Hollywood with no success. So he took a chance and wrote the screenplay himself.
‘It made my career’
“They didn’t expect it to make much money, but it became a monster, making $100 million,” he said. “It made my career,” he told the Times-Herald of Vallejo, Calif., in 2009.
The film made the Associated Press’ list of the best 25 sports movies ever made.
Howard followed up Remember the Titans┬аwith Ali,┬аthe 2001 Michael Mann-directed biopic of Muhammad Ali. Smith famously bulked up to play Ali and was nominated for a best actor Oscar.
Howard also produced and co-wrote 2019’s Harriet,┬аabout abolitionist Harriet Tubman. Erivo led a cast┬аthat included Leslie Odom Jr., Clarke Peters and Joe Alwyn.
“I got into this business to write about the complexity of the Black man …┬аI think it takes a Black man to write about Black men,” he told the Times-Herald.
From finance to film
Born in Virginia, his family moved often due to his stepfather’s career in the U.S.┬аNavy. After attending Princeton University, graduating with a degree in American history, Howard briefly worked at Merrill Lynch on Wall Street before moving to Los Angeles in his mid-20s to pursue a writing career.
He wrote for TV and penned the play Tinseltown Trilogy,┬аwhich focused on three men in Los Angeles over Christmastime as their stories interconnect and inform each other.
Howard also wrote The Harlem Renaissance,┬аa limited series for HBO; Misty,┬аthe story of prima ballerina Misty Copeland; and This Little Light,┬аthe Fannie Lou Hamer story. Most recently, he wrote the civil rights project Power to the People┬аfor producer Ben Affleck and Paramount Pictures.
He is survived by his┬аsister┬аLynette Henley,┬аbrother┬аMichael Henley┬аand┬аtwo nieces and a nephew.
