born June 11, 1932, Middleburg, S.Af.
South African playwright, director, and actor.
He wrote two plays before The Blood Knot (1961), a penetrating analysis of apartheid, established his international reputation. He resumed the theme in Hello and Goodbye (1965) and Boesman and Lena (1969; film, 1973, with Fugard as Boesman). He experimented with an imagist approach to drama in Orestes (1971) and three other works, then returned to more traditionally structured plays. His "Master Harold"...and the Boys (1982), The Road to Mecca (1984), and My Children! My Africa! (1989) were acclaimed in London and New York City. Fugard acted in the films Marigolds in August (1980), Gandhi (1982), and The Killing Fields (1984).