David Rogers

Playwright

David Rogers was an American playwright and author. He is best known for the Tony-nominated musical Charlie and Algernon. Five of his other plays and musicals have been produced on Broadway.

Rogers began his career in entertainment as a child actor on the radio program "Rainbow House". He made his Broadway debut in 1945 at age 17 in As You Like It. During the same year, he was published for the first time in Gourmet Magazine.  Rogers continued to work in New York until 1950, when he was drafted into US Army to fight in the Korean War. Upon his return, the GI Bill allowed him to study at the American Theatre Wing. He wrote and contributed to revues inclduing The Ziegfield Follies and Young At Heart. Soon, Rogers began writing plays and musicals including The Hobbit, Flowers for Algernon, Tom Jones, Here and Now, Soft Soap, The Dream on Royal Street, Charlie and Algernon, JOY!, May the Farce Be With You, Never Mind What Happened, and How Did It End.  He was also commissioned to write the opera The Hero by the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, which earned him the Prix D'Italia. In addition, Rogers wrote several novels, including Somewhere There's Music and The Great American Alimony Escape, which have been published in several languages.

Rogers returned to acting in the 1980's, performing in the Broadway productions of Broadway, Doubles, and A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum. He also  appeared in several regional and Off-Broadway plays and musicals, as well as as a one man show, Naked On Broadway.

During the later years of his life, Rogers dedicated himself to helping emerging writers and actors at the Westport Conn. Theatre Artists Workshop. He passed away in 2013 at the age of 85, and is survived by his wife and daughters.

Appears in
From Here Inside My Head