Leonard Schrader (November 30, 1943 – November 2, 2006) was an Academy Award-nominated American screenwriter and director most notable for his ability to write Japanese language films and for his many collaborations with his brother Paul Schrader. He earned an Academy Award Nomination for his screenplay for Kiss of the Spider Woman.
Born in Grand Rapids, Michigan, Schrader was brought up in a strict Dutch Calvinist family and did not see his firs...
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Leonard Schrader (November 30, 1943 – November 2, 2006) was an Academy Award-nominated American screenwriter and director most notable for his ability to write Japanese language films and for his many collaborations with his brother Paul Schrader. He earned an Academy Award Nomination for his screenplay for Kiss of the Spider Woman.
Born in Grand Rapids, Michigan, Schrader was brought up in a strict Dutch Calvinist family and did not see his first film until he was an adult. In 1968, he finished his MFA at the University of Iowa's Writer's Workshop where he studied with Nelson Algren, Kurt Vonnegut, Richard Yates, Robert Coover, José Donoso and Jorge Luis Borges.
Between 1969-73 he escaped even further, slipping by night into the subculture of the Yamaguchi-gumi (the dominant Yakuza gangster Family in Kyoto) while by day teaching American Literature at Doshisha University and Kyoto University in Japan. According to Peter Biskind, Schrader left the U.S. when he received a draft...
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