Reginald Rose

A fearless Golden Age of Television writer of the highest caliber, Reginald Rose's ability to tackle pressing social issues distinguished him from the pack and, along with such contemporaries as Rod Serling and Paddy Chayefsky, left an indelible mark on the history of thought-provoking television drama. Born in New York City in December of 1920, Rose enlisted in the Army in 1942. After rising through the ranks to become first lieutenant, the future writer wed Barbara Langbart the following year before venturing into writing nearly a decade later. Penning his first teleplay (Bus to Nowhere) for CBS's Studio One in 1951, it was a mere three years later that Rose would become the head writer for that series and create the work that would become his masterpiece. Overwhelmed by the intense drama of the jury system while serving as a juror on a manslaughter case, Rose successfully translated the heated debate that occurs behind courtroom doors into the Emmy-winning drama Twelve Angry Men in 1954. The tale of a lone voice of dissent in the jury weighing the fate of a Puerto Rican youth charged with patricide, the teleplay was a massive success that spawned an even more successful 1957 film. The film version was nominated for multiple Oscars including Best Picture and Best Screenplay, and marked Rose's sole credit as co-producer. Rose would continue to write for Studio One in the following years in addition to penning scripts for The Twilight Zone and such features as Crime in the Streets (1956) and Man of the West (1958). His success with the Studio One teleplay The Defenders later spawned an Emmy-winning series based on a father-son lawyer team who delved into cases involving such socially relevant issues as abortion and blacklisting. A teleplay for Thunder on Sycamore Street (1959) pondered the issues of an ex-con attempting to go straight while his neighbors form a mob to drive him from their neighborhood. Nominated for six Emmys in all (three of which he won), Rose's teleplays were consistently challenging and offered audiences a thoughtful perspective in troubled times. Working well into the 1980s with such efforts as Whose Life Is It Anyway? (1981) and Escape From Sobibor (1987), the repercussions of Rose's most famous work were further reinforced when 12 Angry Men once again went before the cameras in 1997, nearly 50 years after it was written. In April of 2002, Rose died in a Norwalk, CT, hospital, leaving behind his second wife and six children. He was 81.

~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide