Dale Wasserman, the son of Samuel and Hilda Wasserman, was born in Rhinelander, Wisconsin, on November 2, 1917. After one year of high school, he began his career as a stage lighting technician, and since then has worked in many capacities in the theater. From 1940 to 1950, he directed the Katherine Dunham dance company. During this time, he also produced Barbizon Tuesdays (1946) and Beggar's Holiday (1947); directed Holiday Special (1947) and the opera Ouanga (1950); and directed and lighted The Wind Blows Free (1950). He staged musicals and operas in Europe, the Caribbean Islands, and the United States, as well.
During the 1950's, Mr. Wasserman added writing to his already established directorial, lighting, and producing credits. Among his best known television works are “Elisha and the Long Knives,” Kraft Television Theatre (1954); “The Fog,” Climax (1956); “Look What's Going On,” Kraft Television Theatre (1959); “Brotherhood of the Bell,” Studio One (1960); “I, Don Quixote,” DuPont Show of the Month (1960); The Citadel, an ABC Special (1960); “Eichmann: Engineer of Death,” Armstrong Circle Theatre (1961); The Power and the Glory, a CBS Special (1961); and “The Lincoln Murder Case,” DuPont Show of the Month (1962).
For the theater, Mr. Wasserman wrote Livin' the Life (in collaboration with Bruce Geller, 1957), The Pencil of God (1961), Sylvester (1962), One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1963), and Man of La Mancha. He wrote screenplays for World Strangers (1955), The Vikings (1958), Two Faces To Go (1959), Aboard the Flying Swan (1962), Janadeiro (1962), Quick Before It Melts (1964), Mr. Buddwing (1966), and A Walk with Love and Death and contributed to the screenplay for Cleopatra (1963).
He wrote both the screenplay and playscript for Man of La Mancha. This play won the Critics Circle, Tony, and Outer Circle awards for best musical. When Man of La Mancha closed in 1971 after 2,329 performances, it was the fourth longest musical and the sixth longest play to have run on Broadway.
The mid-1960's also saw Wasserman form a production alliance with Delbert Mann and Douglas Laurence. Together this team produced the motion pictures Quick, Before It Melts, Mr. Buddwing, and Doctor, You've Got to be Kidding.
Over the years, Mr. Wasserman also contributed articles to many publications including Redbook, True, Argosy, Cavalier, the New York Times, New York Post, and Variety.
He won various awards for his writings, including the Top Television Play of the Year (1954) for “Elisha and the Long Knives;” the Writers Guild of America Award (1957) for “The Fog;” an Emmy nomination and Writers Guild of America Award (1960) for “I, Don Quixote;” and an Emmy nomination and Writers Guild of America Award (1961) for “The Lincoln Murder Case.”
Wasserman was the founder and artistic director of the Midwest Professional Playwrights Lab in Rhinelander, Wisconsin, and was a trustee and founding member of the Eugene O'Neill Memorial Theater Center in Waterford, Connecticut.
