WASSERMAN, DALE

WASSERMAN, DALE (1917– ), U.S. playwright. Born in Rhinelander, Wisconsin, Wasserman came to the fore when he adapted Ken Kesey's novel One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1963) for the stage. This was followed by Man of La Mancha (1965), for which Wasserman received many awards, including a Tony Award and a Critics Circle Award. His other plays include Western Star; An Enchanted Land; Players in   the Game; Beggar's Holiday; Boy on Blacktop Road; and The Stallion Howl. Wasserman also wrote screenplays for such feature films as The Vikings (1958); Cleopatra (1963); Quick, before It Melts (1964); Mister Buddwing (1966); A Walk with Love and Death (1969); and his own Man of La Mancha, which he also co-produced (1972). For television, Wasserman wrote the adaptations for the productions of The Citadel (1960) and The Power and the Glory (1961), as well as Long after Summer (1967). He also wrote for a number of television series, such as Studio One (1948); Armstrong Circle Theatre (1950); Kraft Television Theater (1953); The DuPont Show of the Month (1957); and G.E. True (1962). Wasserman's book The Impossible Musical: The Man of La Mancha Story was published in 2003. (Ruth Beloff (2nd ed.)