David Mamet
Pulitzer-winning playwright and filmmaker known for distinctive dialogue.
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David Alan Mamet, born in Chicago on November 30, 1947, is an American playwright, author, and filmmaker. His father, Bernard Morris Mamet, was a labor attorney, and his mother, Lenore June (née Silver), was a teacher.
Mamet, who is Jewish with Polish Jewish grandparents, has described his parents as communists and himself as a “red diaper baby.” He worked early jobs as a busboy at Chicago’s London House and The Second City, as an actor, an editor for Oui magazine, and a cab driver. He attended the progressive Francis W. Parker School and Goddard College, though he later credited the Chicago Public Library as his true alma mater. After moving to Chicago’s North Side, he met theater director Robert Sickinger and began working at Sickinger’s Hull House Theatre, starting a lifelong theater career.
Theater
Mamet first earned critical acclaim in the 1970s with three off-Broadway plays: The Duck Variations, Sexual Perversity in Chicago, and American Buffalo. He won a Pulitzer Prize and received Tony nominations for Glengarry Glen Ross (1983) and Speed-the-Plow (1988). His play Race opened on Broadway in 2009, and The Penitent previewed off-Broadway in 2017. He is a founding member of the Atlantic Theater Company.
In 2002, he was inducted into the American Theater Hall of Fame, and in 2010 he received the PEN/Laura Pels Theater Award for Grand Master of American Theater. In 2017, he released an online class titled David Mamet teaches dramatic writing. He returned to London’s West End in 2019 with Bitter Wheat, starring John Malkovich, and in 2023 a new play, Henry Johnson, was announced for Los Angeles with Shia LaBeouf.
Film
Mamet’s first produced screenplay was the 1981 adaptation of The Postman Always Rings Twice. He earned an Academy Award nomination for The Verdict (1982) and later wrote screenplays for The Untouchables (1987), Hoffa (1992), Wag the Dog (1997), and Hannibal (2001), among others. He received a second Oscar nomination for Wag the Dog. He made his directorial debut in 1987 with House of Games, which won the Golden Osella for Best Screenplay at the Venice Film Festival and was named Film of the Year by the London Film Critics’ Circle.
He also wrote and directed Homicide (1991), The Spanish Prisoner (1997), and Heist (2001), his biggest commercial success. Other films he wrote and directed include Things Change (1988), Oleanna (1994), The Winslow Boy (1999), State and Main (2000), Spartan (2004), Redbelt (2008), and a 2013 TV biopic. He created and produced the CBS series The Unit (2006–2009).
Books
Mamet’s books include On Directing Film (1991), a dialogue on filmmaking; the novel The Old Religion (1997), about the lynching of Leo Frank; Five Cities of Refuge (2004), a Torah commentary with Rabbi Lawrence Kushner; The Wicked Son (2006), on Jewish self-hatred and antisemitism; Bambi vs. Godzilla, about the movie business; The Secret Knowledge (2011), on cultural and political issues; Three War Stories (2013), novellas about war’s effects; and Everywhere an Oink Oink (2023), an autobiographical account of his Hollywood years.
Lore & Background
Mamet was born in 1947 in Chicago to Lenore June (née Silver), a teacher, and Bernard Morris Mamet, a labor attorney. He is Jewish, with paternal grandparents who were Polish Jews. He described himself as a 'red diaper baby' and worked early jobs as a busboy at Chicago's London House and The Second City, as an actor, editor for Oui magazine, and a cab driver. He was educated at the progressive Francis W. Parker School and at Goddard College in Plainfield, Vermont.
At a 2006 fundraiser, Mamet stated, 'My alma mater is the Chicago Public Library. I got what little educational foundation I got in the third-floor reading room, under the tutelage of a Coca-Cola sign.' After a move to Chicago's North Side, he met theater director Robert Sickinger and began working at Sickinger's Hull House Theatre, beginning his lifelong involvement with theater. Mamet is a founding member of the Atlantic Theater Company. He was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in 1984 for Glengarry Glen Ross.
His plays American Buffalo and Speed-the-Plow were included on Harold Bloom's list of works constituting the Western Canon. He was inducted into the American Theater Hall of Fame in 2002 and received the PEN/Laura Pels Theater Award for Grand Master of American Theater in 2010. In 2019 he returned to the London West End with a new play, Bitter Wheat, at the Garrick Theatre, starring John Malkovich. In 2023 it was announced that a new Mamet play, titled Henry Johnson, was expected to debut in Los Angeles starring Shia LaBeouf.
Mamet's first film work was as a screenwriter; his first produced screenplay was the 1981 adaptation of The Postman Always Rings Twice. He received an Academy Award nomination for The Verdict (1982) and a second for Wag the Dog (1997). He made his film directing debut with his screenplay House of Games (1987), which won the Golden Osella Best Screenplay award at the 1987 Venice Film Festival. He wrote and directed Heist (2001), his biggest commercial success.
Reader's Guide
David Mamet's significance lies in his distinctive contributions to American theater and film. His play Glengarry Glen Ross won the Pulitzer Prize in 1984, and both American Buffalo and Speed-the-Plow were recognized by Harold Bloom as part of the Western Canon. His screenwriting credits include The Postman Always Rings Twice (1981), The Verdict (1982), The Untouchables (1987), Hoffa (1992), Wag the Dog (1997), and Hannibal (2001). Mamet himself wrote the screenplay for the 1992 adaptation of Glengarry Glen Ross, adding an additional part (including the monologue 'Coffee's for closers') for Alec Baldwin.
As a director, his films include House of Games (1987), Homicide (1991), The Spanish Prisoner (1997), and Heist (2001), his biggest commercial success. His books include On Directing Film (1991), a commentary on film-making; The Old Religion (1997), a novel about the lynching of Leo Frank; The Secret Knowledge: On the Dismantling of American Culture (2011); and Everywhere an Oink Oink: An Embittered, Dyspeptic, and Accurate Report of Forty Years in Hollywood (2023). Mamet continues to work with an informal repertory company including William H. Macy, Joe Mantegna, and Rebecca Pidgeon. In 2023, reports emerged that Mamet would direct and co-write a new film titled Assassination, his first film since 2008.
Did You Know?
- He rewrote the script for Ronin under the pseudonym 'Richard Weisz'.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who is David Mamet?
David Mamet is an American playwright, novelist, and filmmaker born on November 30, 1947. He is widely recognized for his sharp, naturalistic dialogue and his focus on themes of power, greed, and moral compromise.
What major awards has David Mamet received?
Mamet won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama and received Tony Award nominations for two of his plays. He has also been recognized for his screenwriting work, including writing the screenplay for The Untouchables.
How did David Mamet break into the theater world?
He first drew critical attention in the 1970s with a trio of off-Broadway plays, including The Duck Variations, Sexual Perversity in Chicago, and American Buffalo. These early works established his reputation for intense, dialogue-heavy drama before he moved to Broadway.
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Sources
Compiled from Wikipedia and the sources listed below. Text from Wikipedia is available under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is adapted from it.
- Wikipedia: David Mamet (CC BY-SA 4.0).
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