Six Degrees of Separation (film)

Six Degrees of Separation
Theatrical release poster
Directed byFred Schepisi
Screenplay byJohn Guare
Based onSix Degrees of Separation
by John Guare
Produced byFred Schepisi
Arnon Milchan
Starring
CinematographyIan Baker
Edited byPeter Honess
Music byJerry Goldsmith
Production
companies
Distributed by
Release date
  • December 8, 1993 (1993-12-08)
Running time
112 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$15 million[2]
Box office$6.4 million[3]

Six Degrees of Separation is a 1993 American comedy-drama film released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and directed by Fred Schepisi, adapted from John Guare's Pulitzer Prize-nominated[4] 1990 play of the same name.

The plot of the film was inspired by the real-life story of David Hampton, a con man and robber who convinced a number of people in the 1980s that he was the son of actor Sidney Poitier. In October 1983, Hampton came to the New York apartment of Inger McCabe Elliott and her husband Osborn Elliott, who allowed him to spend the night in the apartment. The next morning, Inger found Hampton in bed with another man and later called the police. The Elliotts told their friend, writer John Guare, the story, which inspired him to write the play years later.[5][6]

  1. ^ "Six Degrees of Separation (1993)". BBFC. Archived from the original on 20 October 2021. Retrieved 20 October 2021.
  2. ^ Plunka, Gene A. (2002). The Black Comedy of John Guare. University of Delaware Press. p. 188. ISBN 9780874137637.
  3. ^ "Six Degrees of Separation". Box Office Mojo. Archived from the original on 2024-06-22. Retrieved 2016-02-18.
  4. ^ "The Pulitzer Prizes". Pulitzer.org. Archived from the original on 2010-08-13. Retrieved 2013-09-19.
  5. ^ New York Mag The Story of David Hampton Archived 2024-06-22 at the Wayback Machine accessed 7-27-2015
  6. ^ Gerston, Jill (6 March 1994). "Stockard Channing Goes West". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 2018-06-21. Retrieved 2013-09-19.