Playwright Lanford Wilson, author of 'The Fifth of July' and 'Hot l Baltimore,' dead of complications from pneumonia at 73

Aksarbent first became aware of Lanford Wilson's work when the press had a field day with the transition from Christopher Reeve in the lead of the Broadway production of the "The Fifth of July" to that of Richard Thomas, who totally trashed the Johnboy image he forged in the television series, "The Waltons" the moment he approvingly sniffed his boyfriend's sweaty shirt on stage.

To say that Lanford "Lance" Wilson, who died Thursday, was among the greatest of American playwrights of the second half of the 20th century is probably an understatement.