David Mercer
David Mercer was a British playwright and screenwriter born on June 27, 1928, in Wakefield, West Yorkshire, England. Despite facing educational setbacks early in life, he pursued various paths, including service in the Royal Navy and attendance at art school. His personal life was marked by significant challenges, including a marriage to a Czech woman whose family history was steeped in tragedy, as her father was killed by the Gestapo. Following the dissolution of this marriage and his subsequent return to England, Mercer experienced severe depression and a nervous breakdown, which ultimately influenced his writing career.
Mercer's body of work for the BBC during the 1960s gained recognition for its intellectual depth and integrity, contributing to the evolution of television drama in Britain. However, he expressed frustration over the preservation of his works, noting that many of his earlier plays had been erased. Despite his success, his health declined due to heavy drinking, and his later works did not receive the same acclaim. He remarried, this time to an Israeli woman, and they had a daughter together. Mercer passed away at the age of fifty-two on August 8, 1980, leaving behind a legacy that reflects the complexities of his life and career.
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Subject Terms
David Mercer
Playwright
- Born: June 27, 1928
- Birthplace: Wakefield, West Yorkshire, England
- Died: August 8, 1980
- Place of death: Haifa, Israel
Biography
David Mercer was born at Wakefield, West Yorkshire, England, on June 27, 1928. Although his family worked at menial labor, David and his brother were encouraged to better themselves through education. Still, Mercer failed his eleven-plus examination and went to work full time at age fourteen. After stints in the Royal Navy and an art school, Mercer met and married a Czech girl whose father had been murdered by the Gestapo.
The couple moved to Paris, where Mercer realized that he would never have a successful career as an artist. The marriage collapsed, and Mercer returned to England, where he suffered severe depression and a nervous breakdown. Following a lengthy bout of analysis, Mercer found his career as a writer. Many of his scripts were based in the experience of his analysis and his breakdown.
He produced a number of controversial, but successful, scripts for the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), although he later complained that of the thirteen plays he’d done, only five of them remained. Eight other tapes had been wiped clean to reuse the tapes. Some of his television shows were later revised into motion pictures. However, Mercer was regarded as a playwright of intellect and integrity who did much to define and shape television drama in Great Britain during the decade of the 1960’s.
In addition to his television and film scripts, Mercer also wrote for the theater, but by the end of the 1960’s, his work was no longer as well received. He had always been a heavy drinker, and his health suffered as a result. Mercer married an Israeli woman and the two of them moved to Israel, where he and his wife had a daughter. Eventually, he planned to return to England and begin all over again, but before that could happen, he died on August 8, 1980, at age fifty-two.