Gregory Allen Howard was a screenwriter known for writing the screenplays to movies including “Remember the Titans” and “Harriet.”
- Died: January 27, 2023 (Who else died on January 27?)
- Details of death: Died in Miami of heart failure at the age of 70.
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Screenwriter
Howard dreamed of being a screenwriter as a young man, but it took him years to find success. The spark of the idea for his first film came when he moved to Alexandria, Virginia. As a new resident, he heard the story of the city’s T.C. Williams High School, which won a state championship in the early 1970s when it was newly integrated. Inspired by the story, Howard wrote the screenplay for a movie based on it. “Remember the Titans” was a box office success and became a classic of the feel-good sports movie genre. Howard won a Black Reel Award for his screenplay.
Howard went on to write other movies based on true stories of Black excellence. “Ali,” telling the story of boxer and civil rights icon Muhammad Ali (1942–2016), was written by Howard but later went through rewrites, leaving him with a “story by” credit. And 2019’s “Harriet,” based on the life of abolitionist Harriet Tubman (1822–1913), featured a screenplay that Howard had been trying to sell for 25 years. Several of Howard’s scripts are currently in development, including “Night Witches” and “Rise.”
Howard on the struggle to get “Harriet” made
“When people would tell me ‘no’ about making this movie, I just ignored it. It just didn’t mean anything to me. So what? They’re wrong. Harriet’s story deserves to be told just like these other stories. You got to look at the arc and the journey of her character — this is the most amazing of amazing stories, in my humble opinion. It’s the ultimate underdog story, and that’s what attracted me to it in the first place.” —from a 2019 interview for Vox
Tributes to Gregory Allen Howard
Full obituary: The New York Times
