Alfred Uhry

Alfred Uhry is a Tony Award-winning playwright, responsible for The Robber Bridegroom (1975), The Last Night of Ballyhoo (1996), and Driving Miss Daisy (1987) Yes, the Miss Daisy. Uhry adapted his own play, which had already earned him the Pulitzer Prize for Drama, into the film, which won him an Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay.

Obviously, the story was a winner.

Uhry grew up in Atlanta, Georgia, and had a cranky old Jewish grandma with a black chauffeur. Sound familiar? He drew on his own Southern Jewish upbringing when he wrote the play Driving Miss Daisy. Uhry's best known for his Atlanta trilogy of plays—all with similar themes but with different characters and plotlines. Driving Miss Daisy is the first of these; Ballyhoo and Parade (1998) are the other two. Uhry also co-wrote the screenplay for the delicious Julia Roberts hit Mystic Pizza (1988). Hey, wait—wasn't Julia's character named Daisy?

Coincidence? We think not.