Biography
Leonard Schrader (30 November 1943 – 2 November 2006) was an American screenwriter and director. Born in Grand Rapids, Michigan, he studied at Calvin College and earned an MFA from the University of Iowa Writers’ Workshop. He lived in Japan in the late 1960s and early 1970s, where he taught American literature and developed an interest in Japanese culture and yakuza traditions.
Schrader collaborated frequently with his brother, the screenwriter and director Paul Schrader. Their joint credits include the story for The Yakuza (1974) and the screenplay for Blue Collar (1978). He also co-wrote Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters (1985) with his brother and wife Chieko Schrader. Schrader adapted Manuel Puig’s novel for the screenplay of Kiss of the Spider Woman (1985), for which he received an Academy Award nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay. He directed the feature Naked Tango (1990) and later taught screenwriting at the University of Southern California, Chapman University and the American Film Institute.
