Albert Innaurato

Albert Innaurato was a playwright and occasional television writer who was best known for his stage success in the 1970s with plays that included The Transfiguration of Benno Blimpie and Gemini.

Innaurato attended Temple University, in his native Philadelphia, and the California Institute of the Arts prior to matriculating at the Yale School of Drama, where his fellow students included actresses Meryl Streep and Sigourney Weaver and playwright Christopher Durang.

He first garnered attention in New York with Benno Blimpie, about a man who eats himself to death, which had a well received Off Broadway run. Gemini, the story of a Harvard student who returns to his Philadelphia home for his 21st birthday, premiered on Broadway in May of 1977 and ran for 1,819 performances.

Innaurato's television work included Verna: The USO Girl, for which he received an Emmy Award nomination in 1978, in the category of Outstanding Writing in a Special Program — Drama or Comedy — Adaptation. Gemini was also adapted for television.

He also wrote two episodes of the award-winning dramedy The Days and Nights of Molly Dodd.

In addition to his dramatic writing, Innaurato wrote about opera for Opera News and other publications.

Innaurato died on September 24, 2017, in Philadelphia. He was 70.