David Mercer (playwright)

David Mercer (27 June 1928 – 8 August 1980) was an English dramatist.

Born in Wakefield, Yorkshire, he worked as a laboratory technician and in the Merchant Navy before attending university. After studying chemistry, he switched to art but eventually turned to writing. His television work for the BBC was often made in collaboration with director Don Taylor. His first stage play, Ride a Cock Horse, starred Peter O'Toole. The Royal Shakespeare Company premiered many of his works, and Mercer wrote the screenplay for the Alain Resnais film Providence, which won a César Award. A long-term heavy drinker, Mercer died in 1980 after suffering a heart attack in Haifa, Israel.