Playwright Dale Wasserman dead

LOS ANGELES, Dec. 26 (UPI) -- Playwright and screenwriter Dale Wasserman has died of heart failure in Arizona, Variety.com reported Friday.

Wasserman, whose age has been stated by different sources as both 91 and 94, wrote nearly 80 plays -- including the musical, "Man of La Mancha," and the stage adaptation of "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" -- as well as magazine articles and the book, "The Impossible Musical."

Wasserman is survived by his wife of 24 years, Martha Nelly Garza, the entertainment industry trade newspaper said. He was previously married to and divorced from actress Ramsay Ames.

"I was born. That seems fairly certain," Wasserman is quoted as saying on his official Web site.

"When and where are less certain. Lacking a birth certificate, I'm not even sure of my age. Disdaining home and education I spent years jumping freight trains, graduating as a Hobo cum laude. Drifting happenstance into theater, I practiced its every art, eventually turning to writing, an act of monstrous impertinence. I have written 40 or so television plays, 15 feature films, and a dozen stage plays and musicals," the scribe said.

He won a Tony in 1966 for "Man of La Mancha" and was nominated for a writing Emmy in 1961 for "I, Don Quixote."

Acknowledging he has won numerous major prizes, Wasserman explained he wasn't entirely sure which ones since he didn't attend awards ceremonies.

"I lack an education, but hold Doctorates from three universities, an oddity which anyone who cares may puzzle over," he added. "I chose to live in Arizona because it's the one State which refuses to adopt Daylight Saving Time."