Bruce Graham: 'Roseanne' showed him the way

In his native Philadelphia, Bruce Graham is best known as the prolific and acclaimed author of numerous plays, including "Burkie," "Early One Evening at the Rainbow Bar & Grille," "Moon Over the Brewery," "Belmont Avenue Social Club" and "Coyote on a Fence," which won the Rosenthal Prize and two Drama Desk nominations (and whose staging in London's West End starred Ben Cross, of "Chariots of Fire" fame).

His efforts have been recognized with two Barrymore Awards (the local equivalent of the Tonys).

His most recent work, "Any Given Monday," which was produced by Act II Playhouse & Theatre Exile, won the 2010 Independence Foundation Award for Outstanding New Play at the recent Barrymores.

His newest piece, "The Outgoing Tide," is scheduled to open next April in Chicago with John Mahoney ("Fraizer"), for whom Graham wrote the play, in the lead role.

But Graham, 53, is also a Hollywood player, having written screenplays (both credited and as a "script doctor") and for television.

His big-screen credits include the Jason Alexander comedy "Dunston Checks In," "Anastasia" and "Steal This Movie," based on the life of 1960s radical leader Abbie Hoffman.

He also contributed (without credit) to such films as "The Devil's Own" (Harrison Ford and Brad Pitt) and "Hear No Evil," a 1993 thriller starring Marlee Matlin and Martin Sheen.

On the television side, Graham has penned several made-for-TV movies (he has a Father's Day flick for the Hallmark Channel in preproduction), and wrote for two series: the short-lived 1980s show "Leg Work," starring future Oscar-winner Frances McDormand ("Fargo"), and "Roseanne."

It was his time spent with the latter that convinced Graham that full-time TV writing was not for him.

"Sitting in a room with comedy writers is the saddest thing in the world," he said. "All they talked about was work. I really wanted to kill them."

Adding to Graham's distaste for the TV-writing realm, he noted, was having to listen "to that comedy genius, Tom Arnold, telling me what's funny!"

- Chuck Darrow