[Deathwatch] Reginald Rose, author, 81

[Deathwatch Central <cdw@slick.org>]

Writer of Jury Drama 'Twelve Angry Men' Dies at 81 
Sun Apr 21, 3:12 PM ET 

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Reginald Rose, one of the leading writers from
television's "Golden Age" in the 1950s who was best known for the movie
"Twelve Angry Men", died on Friday at a Connecticut hospital at age 81,
a hospital spokeswoman said. 
  
Rose died of complications from heart failure at Norwalk Hospital in
Norwalk, Connecticut, his son said. 

Rose won an Emmy Award in 1954 for writing the Studio One television
version of "Twelve Angry Men", in which one juror painstakingly sways
the 11 others debating the fate of a Puerto Rican youth charged with
killing his father. 

Rose received an Academy Award nomination for the screenplay of the
1957 film version, which starred Henry Fonda, who co-produced the movie
with Rose. The film, which also featured Lee J. Cobb, Ed Begley Sr.,
E.G. Marshall, Jack Klugman, Jack Warden and Martin Balsam, was
directed by Sidney Lumet and was also nominated for best picture that
year. 

Rose, a native New Yorker whose work was distinguished by his focus on
social and political issues, won three Emmy Awards and was nominated
for six. 

In 1957, Rose wrote "The Defender", another Studio One special that
brought him acclaim and was later turned into "The Defenders"
television series in collaboration with producer Herbert Brodkin. 

"The Defenders", which ran for four seasons and 130 episodes after
debuting in 1961, starred E.G. Marshall and Robert Reed as a
father-and-son team of defense attorneys in perhaps the most
socially-conscious series to air on television in those days. 

Other movie screenplays written by Rose included "The Wild Geese"
(1978) and "Whose Life Is It Anyway?" (1981).