Henry Bromell

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Henry Bromell (born September 19, 1947 in New York City , New York , † March 18, 2013 in Santa Monica , California ) was an American writer , screenwriter , producer and director , primarily of television series such as Alaska , Homicide and Homeland .

Life

Early years

Bromell grew up in various cities in the Middle East where his father was stationed as a CIA employee in the 1950s , including Cairo , Amman and Tehran . From the age of twelve he attended boarding schools, such as the Eaglebrook School in Deerfield ( Massachusetts ) in 1963 and the Atlantic College located in the medieval St Donat's Castle in Wales from 1964 to 1966 . He mostly spent his holidays with relatives, friends of his parents or in boarding schools. Often plagued by loneliness, he found comfort in reading numerous books.

In 1970, Bromell graduated from Amherst College . During this time he began his literary career. He regularly published short stories in the New Yorker . He also processed aspects of his biography as the son of an agent. The stories later appeared collected in The Slightest Distance (1974) and I Know Your Heart, Marco Polo (1979). The first volume brought Bromell a grant from Houghton Mifflin ; the second was described in a New York Times review by Joyce Carol Oates as flawed and yet "very promising." In 1983, Bromell published his first novel, The Follower , the story of a waiter and aspiring actor who fell victim to a mistake.

TV work in the 1990s

In the late 1980s, Bromell lived in California, where he tried to gain a foothold as a screenwriter, initially unsuccessfully. That changed when he got in touch with Joseph Falsey in 1990 , who made himself a co-creator of the award-winning television series Dr. Westphall ( St. Elsewhere , 1982–1988) had made a name. Falsey belonged to a group of authors known as "The Family Tree", who had transferred the principle of the auteur film to the medium of television series since the 1980s and heralded an era of narrative quality television through their "literary dramas" with distinctive characters and polished dialogues. Bromell had never met Falsey, but had helped Falsey twelve years earlier to be accepted into the prestigious Iowa Writers' Workshop at the University of Iowa .

Falsey offered Bromell to work on his new TV series Alaska, of all places, which he developed with Joshua Brand for the broadcaster CBS . Although he didn't even own a television at the time, Bromell accepted the offer and eventually co-produced the series about a young New York doctor who has to practice for several years in the small town of Cicely to pay off his student loan from the state of Alaska . Alaska , of all places , turned out to be a great success with audiences and critics. Bromell wrote three episodes of the series himself and worked on other scripts as a story editor . Also in I'll Fly Away (1991-1993), another television series developed by Falsey and Brand, Bromell worked as a co-producer and screenwriter with. However, despite very good reviews, the series failed to achieve great success with audiences.

In the years that followed, Bromell wrote scripts for such series as Moon over Miami (1993), Chicago Hope (1994) and Homicide (1994-1996). On the latter series he was also executive producer in 1995/1996.

Work since 2000

In 2000, the feature film Panic , for which Bromell wrote the screenplay and which he also directed for the first time, was released. The film about one of William H. Macy played assassin who suffers from depression, Bromell brought a number of good reviews and a nomination for the "Grand Special Prize" at the American Film Festival in Deauville , but was commercially a flop. In 2001 his second novel was published, in which there were again echoes of his own family history: Little America is about an American agent in the Middle East in the 1950s, told from the perspective of his son.

For the television film Last Call (2002), a study of the last months of F. Scott Fitzgerald's life , based on the autobiographical account of his secretary and confidante Frances Kroll , Bromell was again responsible for the script and direction; the leading roles were played by Jeremy Irons , Sissy Spacek and Neve Campbell . Bromell was also one of the directors of the Showtime short series Out of Order (2003). From 2006 to 2008, Bromell co-wrote and directed twelve episodes of the Brotherhood series .

Two television series that Bromell took part in in the last few years of his life were once again set in the espionage milieu with which he was so familiar through his father. The Rubicon AMC series is about a think tank analyst who discovers that the mysterious death of his mentor was the result of a conspiracy by a secret society of war profiteers. Bromell was executive producer, scriptwriter and director of an episode. However, Rubicon was canceled after one season due to disappointing audience ratings.

The series Homeland , which aired on Showtime from 2011 onwards, was more successful, the story of a CIA agent ( Claire Danes ) who suspects an American soldier ( Damian Lewis ) of having switched fronts during his longstanding hostage in the Middle East and now for one al-Qaeda terrorists to work. Homeland achieved good ratings, but above all a lot of critical acclaim and was awarded numerous prestigious prizes. In 2012, Bromell received the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Drama Series and the Golden Globe for Best Series - Drama as one of the co-producers, and the Writers Guild of America Award for the screenwriter of The Good Soldier . At the time of his death, he was busy preparing for the third season of Homeland .

Private and death

He was married twice, his first marriage to the writer Trish Soodik . Both relationships resulted in a son.

Henry Bromell died on March 18, 2013, at the age of 65, at St. John's Health Center in Santa Monica of complications from a heart attack .

plant

Fiction

items

  • "Something Borrowed: Honor Bound". Autobiographical sketch in The New Yorker, October 11, 2010. p. 52.

Scripts (partly collaboration)

  • 1991: Alaska ( Northern Exposure ) of all places , TV series, 3 episodes
  • 1991–1993: I'll Fly Away , TV series, 8 episodes
  • 1993: Moon over Miami , TV series
  • 1994: Chicago Hope , TV series
  • 1994–1996: Homicide , TV series, 25 episodes
  • 2000: Panic , feature film
  • 2002: Last Call , TV film
  • 2003: Carnivàle , TV series, 1 episode
  • 2006–2008: Brotherhood , TV series, 12 episodes
  • 2010: Rubicon , TV series, 2 episodes
  • 2011–2012: Homeland , TV series, 4 episodes

Director

  • 2000: Panic , feature film
  • 2002: Last Call , TV film
  • 2003: Out of Order , TV series
  • 2006–2008: Brotherhood , TV series, 3 episodes
  • 2010: Rubicon , TV series, 1 episode

producer

  • 1990: Alaska ( Northern Exposure ) of all places , TV series
  • 1991–1992: I'll Fly Away , TV series
  • 1993: Moon over Miami , TV series
  • 1994: Chicago Hope , TV series, 1 episode
  • 1994–1996: Homicide , TV series, 44 episodes
  • 2000–2001: That's Life , TV series, 11 episodes
  • 2002: Last Call , TV film
  • 2003: Carnivàle , TV series
  • 2009: Empire State , TV movie
  • 2010: Rubicon , TV series, 4 episodes
  • 2011–2012: Homeland , TV series, 23 episodes

Awards

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e f Elaine Woo: “Henry Bromell dies at 65; writer helped usher in literary TV drama ”. Los Angeles Times obituary , March 19, 2013.
  2. ^ Henry Bromell, Something Borrowed: Honor Bound. Autobiographical sketch in The New Yorker, October 11, 2010. p. 52.
  3. ↑ In the original: "highly promising". See: William Yardley: "Henry Bromell, Writer of TV Dramas, Dies at 65". New York Times obituary , March 20, 2013.
  4. ^ Matt Zoller Seitz: "Seitz on TV Producer and Writer Henry Bromell: 1947-2013". Obituary on the blog "Vulture" of New York magazine on March 19, 2013.
  5. ↑ Lacey Rose, "Homeland" Writer-Producer Henry Bromell Dies of Heart Attack ". Hollywood Reporter's obituary dated March 19, 2013.
personal data
SURNAME Bromell, Henry
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American writer, screenwriter, director, and producer
DATE OF BIRTH September 19, 1947
PLACE OF BIRTH New York City , New York, United States
DATE OF DEATH March 18, 2013
Place of death Santa Monica , California, United States