American playwright, winner of the Pulitzer Prize, May 1961, for “All The Way Home,” a Broadway adaptation of James Agee’s novel “A Death in the Family.” He was a TV writer from 1953-61 who brought serious drama into U.S. living rooms with 17 original plays an hour or more in length.
Tad Mosel was born to Margaret (Norman) Mosel and George Ault Mosel, who worked in food advertising. His birth name was George Ault Mosel, Jr., but he was nicknamed Tad from birth. His older brother, James Norman Mosel, teaches at George Washington University in Washington, D.C. His maternal great-grandfather, John Norman was a painter and the only ancestor known to have had a creative vocation. His paternal ancestors were involved in mining and grocery wholesale in the Ohio Valley. His mother’s family members were mostly engaged in commerce and trade. However, Tad’s parents exposed him to theater at a young age, taking him to adult plays from the time he was eight.
When Tad was 14 the Mosels moved east. He attended secondary school in Massachusetts and New York. From the time he was 16, Tad wanted to write for the theater. At Amherst College in Amherst, Massachusetts he majored in English. In 1943 he received the Bryant prize for acting at Amherst. Prior to graduating with his class in 1944, he left to spend three years in the Army Air Forces Weather Service. He left the service in 1946 with the rank of sergeant.
Mosel returned to Amherst, became president of the campus dramatic group and received his Bachelor of Arts degree in 1947. Later in 1947 he began postgraduate work at Yale Drama School. He left Yale in 1949 to enter the cast of the Broadway production of the play “At War With the Army.” After a year with that production, he entered Columbia University to work on his Master of Arts (M.A.) degree.
For his M.A. degree, he wrote a three-act play, The Lion Hunters, which was at first rejected by his faculty advisor. Later it was produced off-Broadway and brought him his first mention in the New York press. He earned his M.A. degree in 1953. He had also been exploring the television drama medium and was trying his hand at television scripts. His agent brought Mosel’s “The Haven” to Fred Coe, then producer of NBC Television Playhouse and Coe produced it in 1953. It was also given a new production on 06/28/1961 on CBS-TV. The Mosel-Coe team followed with as many as six plays a year written and produced.
Mosel’s adaptation of James Agee’s novel, “A Death in the Family,” won him the Pulitzer Prize in May 1961. The play was called “All the Way Home” and Coe was one of the producers.
Tad Mosel is five feet six inches tall, weighs 160 pounds, has blond hair and blue eyes. A bachelor who works from the Manhattan apartment that he shares with his Dandie Dinmont Terrier, he collects antique clocks and first edition books. He is a Presbyterian and a member of Theta Delta Chi fraternity. Always curious about the genesis of creative talents, Mosel continually asks other writers, actors, directors and artists what their grandfathers did for a living.
Died from esophageal cancer in Concord, NH on 24 August 2008.
Link to Wikipedia biography