Pat Conroy

Pat Conroy was an author and screenwriter best known for his Oscar-nominated work on the 1991 film The Prince of Tides, based on his novel of the same name. The film starred Barbra Streisand, Nick Nolte and Blythe Danner and told the story of a troubled man who falls in love with his sister’s psychiatrist. The film was nominated for seven Oscars, including best picture.

Conroy also wrote the novel that inspired The Great Santini, a 1979 film starring Robert Duvall as a pilot in the Marine Corps. Additionally, Conroy scribed the novels that were adapted into the films Conrack, starring Jon Voight, and The Lords of Discipline; as well as the telefilms Unconquered, with Dermot Mulroney and Peter Coyote, and The Water Is Wide, with Frank Langella.

He also appeared as himself in the 1998 television documentary Tell About the South: Voices in Black and White and in the 2012 feature documentary Margaret Mitchell: American Rebel.

The eldest of seven children, Conroy was the son of a Marine aviator father who kept the family moving from base to base. Conroy drew on those experiences for many of his novels. He also attended The Citadel at his father’s insistence, and in 2000, the state military college awarded him an honorary degree.

Pat Conroy's other books include South of Broad, set in Charleston's historic district; My Losing Season, about his final year as a member of The Citadel's basketball team; and My Reading Life, a collection of essays that chronicled his lifelong passion for literature.

The author sold 20 million books worldwide; The Prince of Tides, published in 1986, sold more than 5 million copies alone. In 2009, he was inducted into the South Carolina Hall of Fame.

Conroy died March 4, 2016, in Beaufort, South Carolina. He was 70.