Various Hollywood blockbusters – from sports films to historical dramas – come from his pen. Now the American author and producer Howard passed away after a short illness.

The film world mourns the loss of Gregory Allen Howard: The US screenwriter and producer died in Miami on January 27 at the age of 70 after a short illness. His spokesman for The Hollywood Reporter confirmed this. Among other things, the screenplays of the films “Against Every Rule” (2000) and “Harriet – The Road to Freedom” (2019) came from Howard’s pen.

After attending college at Princeton and earning a degree in American history, the American moved to Los Angeles in his mid-20s to start his writing career.

In the years that followed, Howard worked as a freelance writer and contributed to a number of television shows, including the 1990s FOX series True Colors. Stage plays were also part of Howard’s work.

Then came two projects that made Howard famous: the screenplay for a biographical film about the famous boxer Muhammad Ali. The film, which was nominated for two Oscars, starred Hollywood greats such as Will Smith, Jamie Foxx and Jon Voight. Howard also penned the script for the real-life sports film Against Every Rule, starring Denzel Washington. This developed into a box office hit and played a total of more than 100 million US dollars.

One of Howard’s last projects was the historical film “Harriet – The Walk to Freedom” with Janelle Monáe, which was also nominated for several Oscars. Howard acted as a writer and producer because the project was particularly close to his heart. Howard said he spent more than 20 years honing it.

The idea for the film came up while he was still studying history at Princeton, where he was dealing with the life of the famous African-American escape helper. For him, the film was like a “Valentine’s card to a black woman,” Howard said in an interview with Focus Features. “I wanted audiences to be able to go to the cinema on a Saturday and see this young woman who defied this unimaginable power structure and ultimately triumphed,” he added.