Oscar Saul, 81; Screenwriter
Oscar Saul, screenwriter, playwright and novelist who frequently adapted popular works for film and television, died Sunday. He was 81.
He died at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center of prostate cancer, according to a close friend.
Working well into his later years, Saul won critical praise for his adaptation of Tennessee Williams’ “A Streetcar Named Desire” in the 1984 ABC television movie starring Ann Margret as Blanche DuBois.
In 1990, Saul was awarded the Morgan Cox Award by the Writers Guild for his service over the years teaching in the Writers Guild Open Door School.
He published one novel, “The Dark Side of Love,” in 1974.
He co-wrote plays, including “The Revolt of the Beavers,” first produced at the Federal Theatre in 1937, and “Medicine Show,” which appeared on Broadway in 1940.
Among the screenplays he wrote or co-wrote were “Once Upon a Time” in 1944, “Road House” in 1948, “The Helen Morgan Story” in 1957 and “Major Dundee” in 1964.
Saul is survived by one son, Richard.
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