John Bishop (May 3, 1929 â€" December 20, 2006), was an American
playwright and screenwriter who achieved limited success on both
Broadway and in Hollywood.Bishop was born in Mansfield, Ohio. He
majored in theatre at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh and
began his career as an actor at the Cleveland Play House in Cleveland.
Although his stage career led into directing, his first success on
Broadway came from writing the play The Trip Back Down, which played
for two months at the Longacre Theatre in early 1977. In 1987, he made
it back to Broadway by writing and directing The Musical Comedy
Murders of 1940, which ran for almost four months, again at the
Longacre. During this time, Bishop was also a member of the acclaimed
off-Broadway Circle Repertory Company. Mr. Bishop moved west after the
dissolution of Circle Repertory Company in 1997 and founded Circle
West, which carried on many of the artistic missions of the original
Circle Repertory Company. Bishop served as artistic director until his
death. Among the plays the company produced was Mr. Bishop's Legacies,
a police-detective drama.After Broadway, Bishop began writing for
Hollywood. He wrote the screenplay for The Package, a 1989 action
thriller starring Gene Hackman. Although The Package earned poorly at
the box office, the film was well regarded by some critics, including
Roger Ebert, who gave it three stars out of four. Rotten Tomatoes gave
the film a rating of 64% based on 14 reviews.Bishop also did writing
work for Paramount Studios, where he used his knowledge of and
interest in male behavior and police procedures to do rewrites for
big-budget thrillers such as Clear and Present Danger and Beverly
Hills Cop III.
playwright and screenwriter who achieved limited success on both
Broadway and in Hollywood.Bishop was born in Mansfield, Ohio. He
majored in theatre at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh and
began his career as an actor at the Cleveland Play House in Cleveland.
Although his stage career led into directing, his first success on
Broadway came from writing the play The Trip Back Down, which played
for two months at the Longacre Theatre in early 1977. In 1987, he made
it back to Broadway by writing and directing The Musical Comedy
Murders of 1940, which ran for almost four months, again at the
Longacre. During this time, Bishop was also a member of the acclaimed
off-Broadway Circle Repertory Company. Mr. Bishop moved west after the
dissolution of Circle Repertory Company in 1997 and founded Circle
West, which carried on many of the artistic missions of the original
Circle Repertory Company. Bishop served as artistic director until his
death. Among the plays the company produced was Mr. Bishop's Legacies,
a police-detective drama.After Broadway, Bishop began writing for
Hollywood. He wrote the screenplay for The Package, a 1989 action
thriller starring Gene Hackman. Although The Package earned poorly at
the box office, the film was well regarded by some critics, including
Roger Ebert, who gave it three stars out of four. Rotten Tomatoes gave
the film a rating of 64% based on 14 reviews.Bishop also did writing
work for Paramount Studios, where he used his knowledge of and
interest in male behavior and police procedures to do rewrites for
big-budget thrillers such as Clear and Present Danger and Beverly
Hills Cop III.
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