Milan Stitt

Who was Milan Stitt?

Milan Stitt was an American playwright and educator.

Milan Stitt was born in Detroit, Michigan; he graduated from Cooley High School in 1959. Stitt then studied at Albion College to become a priest before receiving his BA from the University of Michigan and MFA from the Yale School of Drama. At Michigan, he studied play-writing with Kenneth Thorpe Rowe.

As a writer, Stitt was best known for his play based on real-life Michigan events,The Runner Stumbles, named best Broadway Play of 1976 in the annual Best Plays book. The film version of his screenplay was directed by Stanley Kramer with Dick Van Dyke, Kathleen Quinlan, Beau Bridges, Maureen Stapleton, Ray Bolger and Tammy Grimes.

A long-time member of the Circle Repertory Company, his plays produced there included The Runner Stumbles with William Hurt, Back in the Race and Labor Day, which he wrote and directed for Christopher Reeve.

Stitt wrote teleplays and mini-series for all the networks. His CBS television movie, The Gentleman Bandit, was the most-watched film of the season, and Long Shadow, for American Playhouse was nominated in 1996 for an International Emmy as Best Teleplay.