Legend Behind ‘Remember the Titans’ and Other Movies Has Died

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Screenwriter Gregory Allen Howard, who skillfully adapted stories of historical black figures in “Remember the Titans” starring Denzel Washington, “Ali” with Will Smith, and “Harriet” with Cynthia Erivo, has died. He was 70.

Howard died Friday at his home in Miami after a brief illness, according to a statement from his publicist, Jeff Sanderson.

Howard was the first black screenwriter to write a drama that made $100 million at the box office when “Titans” crossed that milestone in 2000.

It was about a real-life black coach coming into a newly segregated Virginia school and helping lead the football team to victory. It had the iconic line: “I don’t care if you like each other or not. But you will respect each other.”

Howard said he shopped the story around Hollywood with no success. So he took a chance and wrote the screenplay himself.

″They didn’t expect it to make much money, but it became a monster, making $100 million. “It made my career,” he told the Times-Herald of Vallejo, California, in 2009.

The film made The Associated Press’ list of the best 25 sports movies ever made.

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