On April 1, 1959, Donald Kaufman was born in New York City. The family moved to the town of Massapequa, NY when Donald was a boy, then to Connecticut, where he and his brother Charles graduated from high school. After graduating he followed his brother to Boston University. Then they both transferred to New York University to study film.
The two brothers are screenwriters, and Charles has also directed. Donald’s biggest success so far has been co-writing the script for the movie Adaptation, along with Charles, who also directed the film. They received BAFTA awards and an Academy Award Nomination for best screenplay.
Donald did not continue with screenwriting after Adaptation, which was released in 2002. His brother, though, has continued his career in Hollywood film making, and has won an Academy Award, three British Academy Film awards, as well as a number of other prizes. Donald, on the other hand, has virtually disappeared from public life. While friends and family often attribute this to Donald being nothing but a figment of his brother’s imagination, you can watch Adaptation and decide for yourself. Pay attention to the credits; Donald Kaufman is right there next to his brother. There are rumors in Hollywood that Donald is readying a comeback and writing a script to be directed by well-known Hollywood director Alan Smithee, but nothing has been confirmed. At this point all we can do is hope. Supposedly it’s due to be a biopic of Monsieur LeBlanc, who was born April 1, 1776 in Paris and went on to become a top mathematician, working with other leaders in the field including Lagrange and Gauss. LeBlanc worked extensively in number theory, particularly in the area of Sophie Germain primes.
