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Oregon Road Conditions & Cams Email Story to a Friend December 23, 2005 Margaret Brian Talent playwright, activist Margaret Brian dies By BILL VARBLE Mail Tribune Playwright and social activist Margaret Brian, 80, died Dec. 16 at her home in Talent. She was remembered by friends as a gifted, caring woman who put her beliefs into action. "She was an angel," said Larry Anderson of Ashland. "You could not meet her and not love her." A memorial service is planned in Ashland at a later date. Brian set up Uncle Food’s Diner, a program to feed the hungry, at Trinity Episcopal Church in Ashland, where Anderson was a board member. Enlisting help from the church, Peace House, Southern Oregon University, the Ashland Police Department, the Ashland Community Food Store and others, she was active in the program for eight years. "If anybody had a problem, she’d talk to them," Anderson says. "But she took no guff. She treated the kids with respect, and they respected her." Advertisement Brian, who went by her pen name, saw readings and productions of her plays in Hollywood, Santa Monica, San Francisco and Marin County in California and at Actors’ Theatre, Oregon Stage Works and SOU in Ashland. "She was a talented writer," says OSW Artistic Director Peter Alzado. "She dealt a lot with women’s freedom. She was wonderful to work with, very smart. She had standards that brought people to a better level of work than they might otherwise have done." She was born Margaret Anne Hecht, a daughter of Herbert and Alice Mayer Hecht, on Dec. 20, 1924, in New York City. She grew up in Scarsdale, N.Y., graduated from White Plains High School in 1941 and attended Hood College in Frederick, Md. In 1943, in Beverly Hills, Calif., she married Matthew W. Rapf, an ensign in the U.S. Navy. After World War II, she became a motion picture and television producer. In 1952 she led the Adlai Stevenson presidential campaign in Beverly Hills, Calif. After a 1956 divorce, Brian lived in Topeka, Kan., working as a staff writer for Household magazine. In 1961, in Los Angeles, she married screenwriter S.S. "Paddy" Schweitzer, who survives. The couple lived in Los Angeles, Malibu and Inverness. They began attending plays at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival in the 1970s and in 1991 moved to Ashland, and later to Talent. Oregon Stage Works was born in her living room. Among her plays was "The Amazing Mrs. Slee," a play about birth control advocate Margaret Sanger seen at SOU in 2000, "A Delicate Life," about homelessness, "The Little Woman," a comedy, "The Value of Money," about a woman trying to raise a family on the land, "Boxes," about a woman examining her values, "The Phoenix Bird," a comic monologue. "She had a wonderful quirkiness that was intriguing to be around," Alzado says. "She’ll be missed." Surviving, in addition to her husband, are a sister, Louise Rose, of Mays Landing, N.J.; a brother, Martin Hecht, of New York City; three sons, James M. Rapf, of Malibu, Calif., Steven A. Rapf, of Portland, and John H. Rapf, of Hyampom, Calif.; two step-sons, George F. Schweitzer, of Larchmont, N.Y., and Peter Schweitzer, of New York City; and nine grandchildren. Reach reporter Bill Varble at 776-4478 or e-mail Talent playwright, activist Margaret Brian dies ">[email protected] . Mail Tribune Home | Local News | Sports | Business | Obituaries | Life | Opinion AP News | Archives | Site Map | Community | Classified Copyright © 1997-2005 Mail Tribune, Inc. All rights reserved. Privacy Policy | Terms & Conditions | Website Feedback www.bingo.com Home Security Systems Trunks, Footlocker dvd-r Distance Education Computer Security Ztech Media Hosting Sports Equipment Student Loans Online Pharmacy tcg student loan consolidation Online Casino Reviews Myspace Home Equity Loans Windermere Van Vleet Deep Muscle Stimulator Discount Hotel Reservations Southern Oregon Loans Online Casino News Online Bingo Entertainment Guide Salvia Divinorum Online Casino Fundraisers Advertisement s