Horton Foote has written many plays, including The Trip to Bountiful, which was adapted to the screen. He wrote the screenplays for To Kill a Mockingbird and Tender Mercies and received Academy Awards for both. His play, The Young Man from Atlanta, earned him a 1995 Pulitzer Prize. In 1998, he was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters and also received the Gold Medal for Drama. In December 2000, he was given the National Medal of Arts Award by President Clinton. He released Beginnings: A Memoir in 2001.