James Costigan

James Costigan (March 31, 1926 - December 19, 2007) was an American television actor and Emmy Award award winning television screenwriter. His writing credited included the "Eleanor and Franklin" and "Love Among the Ruins" television movies. cite news |first=Dennis |last=McLellan |title=James Costigan, 81, actor and award-winning TV writer |work= Los Angeles Times |publisher=Boston Globe |date=2008-01-14 |accessdate=2008-01-18]

Costigan was born in March 31, 1926, in Belvedere Gardens in East Los Angeles, where his parents owned and operated a hardware store. He first achieved some level of success in the 1950s, when he began being hired to write television anthology series, such as "Studio One" and "Kraft Television Theatre". Costigan won his first Emmy for original teleplay in 1959 for "Little Moon of Alban", a segment which appeared as part of the Hallmark Hall of Fame. The segment, which starred Christopher Plummer and Julie Harris, was set during the Irish War of Independence.

Costigan earned a second Emmy nomination in for his script adaptation of "The Turn of the Screw" in 1959. He didn't win the award, but acclaimed actress Ingrid Bergman won an Emmy for her performance in "The Turn of the Screw".

Costigan increasingly began writing for Broadway theater, as the format of television began to change. His Broadway credits included "Baby Want a Kiss", a 1964 comedy which starred Joanne Woodward and Paul Newman.

He returned to screenwriting for television in the early 1970s. His 1970s work included "A War of Children", written in 1972, which was about a Catholic family and a Protestant family in Northern Ireland, whose long time friendship is threatened by sectarian violence.

He won a second Emmy Award for "Love Among the Ruins", a 1975 television movie set in Edwardian England, which starred Katharine Hepburn and Laurence Olivier. His third Emmy win was for 1976's Eleanor and Franklin, a two part, four hour long television drama focusing on the lives of Franklin D. Roosevelt and Eleanor Roosevelt.

James Costigan died on December 19, 2007, at his home in Bainbridge Island, Washington, of heart failure and the age of 81.

External links

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* [http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/05/arts/television/05costigan.html?_r=1&ref=arts&oref=slogin New York Times: James Costigan, Writer of Prestige TV, Is Dead]
* [http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/california/la-me-costigan10jan10,0,5176562.story?coll=la-headlines-pe-california Los Angeles Times:James Costigan, 81; won Emmys for writing TV movies]

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