Dan Wakefield Dies: Writer Who Created Controversial Series ‘James At 15’ And Resigned Over Network Interference Was 91
14.03.2024 - 22:07
/ deadline.com
Dan Wakefield, a prolific author and journalist who made television history when he created and wrote the controversial late-1970s drama James at 15 only to resign when NBC executives bristled over an episode’s depiction of teenage sexuality, died yesterday at a hospice facility in Miami. He was 91, and had been in declining health in recent months.
His death was announced by his attorney, Ken Bennett, to the Indianapolis Star. Wakefield was born and raised in Indianapolis.
In addition to James at 15 and various novels, Wakefield’s credits include the screenplay for the 1997 film Going All The Way, starring Ben Affleck and Jeremy Davies, based on his 1970 novel of the same name. The 1979 divorce drama Starting Over starring Burt Reynolds, Jill Clayburgh and Candice Bergen, written by James L. Brooks and directed by Alan J. Pakula, was based on Wakefield’s 1973 novel.
Born May 21, 1932, in Indianapolis, Wakefield began his professional career as a newspaper reporter in his hometown, then, after graduating from New York’s Columbia College in 1955, he wrote for such magazines as Harpers, The Atlantic Monthly and The New York Times Magazine.
He published his first non-fiction book, Island in the City: The World of Spanish Harlem. in 1959, with subsequent non-fiction books including All Her Children: The Making of a Soap Opera (1975) and How Do We Know When It’s God ? (1999), among many others.
In addition to Going All The Way and Starting Over, his novels included Home Free (1977) and Selling Out (1985).
Wakefield was hired by NBC to develop and write the 1977 TV-movie and 1977-78 series that would become James at 15 (later James at 16), an early network attempt to meld the family drama of tamer fare like The Waltons with