D.L. Coburn, Playwright of The Gin Game, Dies at 87

D.L. Coburn, the Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright of The Gin Game, has died at the age of 87.

The East Baltimore-native was 39 when the play, the first he ever wrote, opened on Broadway. After his parents divorced, he spent much of his youth in a group home for boys and joined the Navy after graduating high school in 1957. Early in his career, he worked as an advertising copywriter, before opening his own marketing business in Dallas.

The Gin Game, about two senior citizens and their daily card game, premiered in September 1976 in Los Angeles; a positive review in Variety led to a production at the Actors Theater of Louisville. That’s where actor Hume Cronyn discovered the script and it became a vehicle for Cronyn and his wife, Jessica Tandy.

Under the direction of Mike Nichols, The Gin Game ran for more than 500 performances on Broadway before Cronyn and Tandy toured it across the United States, England, and Russia. Coburn won the Pulitzer for it, with Tandy winning the 1978 Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play. Cronyn and Tandy also starred in a film adaptation in 1981.

Now a staple of stock and regional theaters, The Gin Game has been seen all over the world. Charles Nelson Reilly directed a 1997 Broadway revival starring Charles Durning and Julie Harris; it was her final Broadway role. A 2015 Broadway revival staged by Leonard Foglia served as the final Broadway appearances of James Earl Jones and Cicely Tyson. A television version in 2003 starred reuniting actors Dick Van Dyke and Mary Tyler Moore.

The drama was Coburn’s only play to reach Broadway; his additional pieces include Bluewater Cottage (1979), Guy (1983), Noble Adjustment (1985), Fear of Darkness (1995), Firebrand (1997), The Cause (1998), and Return to Bluefin (2009).

Coburn is survived by his wife, Marsha; his two children, and three grandchildren.