Donald L. Coburn

Donald Lee Coburn (August 4, 1938 – December 3, 2025) was an American dramatist. He won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1978 for his play The Gin Game.

Life and career Coburn was born in Baltimore, Maryland, on August 4, 1938, to parents who divorced two years later. He graduated from high school in 1957, then served in the U.S. Navy from 1958 to 1960. Coburn had been married twice, first to Nazle Joyce French, whom he married in 1964 and divorced in 1971, then to Marsha Woodruff Maher in 1975. He had his own advertising company from 1965 to 1968. He then worked for the Stanford Advertising Agency in Dallas, Texas, from 1968 to 1971. Coburn worked as a marketing consultant from 1973 to 1976.

Playwriting career Coburn's first play, The Gin Game, was first staged in Los Angeles by American Theater Arts in 1976, leading to a subsequent production in Louisville, Kentucky, and a run of 517 performances on Broadway and later performances around the world. The play won the 1978 Pulitzer prize for drama.