Horton Foote, American author, playwright, and screenwriter (d. 2009)
Albert Horton Foote Jr. (March 14, 1916 – March 4, 2009) was an American playwright and screenwriter, perhaps best known for his screenplays for the 1962 film To Kill a Mockingbird, which was adapted from the 1960 novel of the same name by Harper Lee, and his original screenplay for the film Tender Mercies (1983). He was also known for his notable live television dramas during the Golden Age of Television.
Foote received the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1995 for his play The Young Man From Atlanta and two Academy Awards, one for an original screenplay (Tender Mercies) and one for adapted screenplay (To Kill a Mockingbird). In 1995, Foote was the inaugural recipient of the Austin Film Festival's Distinguished Screenwriter Award. In 2000, he was awarded the National Medal of Arts.