Ed Graczyk

Edward Graczyk
Born	1941/1942 (age 75–76) Pennsylvania, U.S.
Nationality	American
Other names	Ed Graczyk
Occupation	Playwright
Years active	1969–present
Known for	Come Back to the Five and Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean

Edward Graczyk (born 1941/1942)is a playwright originally from Ohio. He wrote several children's plays early in his career, but became better known as the author of 1976's Come Back to the Five and Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean. In 1982, Graczyk won the Best Screenplay Award at the Belgium International Film Festival for Robert Altman's motion picture adaptation.

Graczyk was born in Pennsylvania. Between 1968 and 1973, he lived in Texas and wrote children's plays such as Aesop's Falables and Livin' de Life. He began to develop his stage drama Come Back to the Five and Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean, after driving to the small town of Marfa and researching the customs of the area. The legend of the late actor James Dean, and the closure of five-and-dime stores in this place, lent their influences to the play's development. Graczyk went on to say:

After his brief stay in Texas, he moved back to Ohio and served as the artistic director of the Players Theatre in Columbus, Ohio; his tenure there lasted from 1973 to 1993. The first version of Jimmy Dean premiered in September 1976 at Players Theatre; in early 1980, it moved to New York City for a brief run before filmmaker Robert Altman acquired the rights. The resulting Broadway version, which premiered in February 1982, was not a critical success. Nonetheless, Altman soon managed to make a low-budget film adaptation financed by Viacom Enterprises and Mark Goodson Productions. The film won numerous awards at film festivals, including Best Film at Chicago; Ed Graczyk won for Best Screenplay at the Belgium International event.

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