Playwright and screenwriter John Bishop died of cancer in Heilbronn, Germany, on Dec. 20. He was 77.
Bishop wrote and directed his best-known play, Broadway's The Musical Comedy Murders of 1940, during his residency at the prestigious Circle Repertory Company in New York in 1987. During his tenure there, he also wrote Borderlines, The Great Grandson of Jedediah Kohler, and Confluence. Bishop later founded Circle Rep's West Coast arm, Circle West, in Los Angeles. He also served as a resident director at the Dallas Music Fair and Pittsburgh Light Opera.
Bishop authored screenplays for several films, including 1989's The Package, featuring Gene Hackman and Tommy Lee Jones. During the 1990s, he later re-wrote scripts for Paramount, such as Drop Zone, Clear and Present Danger, Sliver, and Primal Fear.